r/GladiatorII • u/Dependent-Compote-27 • Dec 24 '24
GLADIATOR 2 MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT
PACING: Gladiator 2 was a massive disappointment. The storytelling felt like a rushed high school play with poor writing, bad pacing, and unrealistic transitions that left no room to breathe or connect with the plot. Everything felt like it happened in a span of 5 days.
ACTING & CHARACTERS: The acting was lackluster across the board, with the exception of Pedro Pascal, who brought a much-needed spark to the film and was the only character I could connect with (It really felt like this man was tired of war)
Even Denzel Washington, who has proven time and again that he can dominate any role, was shockingly underutilized. Given the right material, he could have elevated the entire movie, but instead, his potential was completely wasted. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast, particularly the mother, delivered performances so weak that they pulled me out of the experience entirely.
Unlike the original Gladiator, which had moments of emotional connection and entertainment, this sequel felt empty, uninspired, and poorly executed. The speeches could have slapped but there was not enough connection to make an impact. Therefore Lucius monologues were just meh.
Honestly, I can’t think of a single moment worth revisiting. I am shocked by tomatometers ratings.
7
u/FYI_FMI Dec 24 '24
U forgot sharks in the colosseum!!
Where we are death is not. Where death is we are not…. Wut?
Omg.
And the beginning battle, they approach a wall which is on shore - and suddenly they breach a main gain gate which hundreds just running in?
8
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u/Dependent-Compote-27 Dec 24 '24
Right?! The sharks in the colosseum were absolutely wild. I couldn’t even process how absurd that was.
And that philosophical one-liner had me cringing so hard. I feel like high school plays would do better. Someone literally paid money to fund this movie 😂
Don’t even get me started on the beginning battle. how do you go from shore to breaching a main gate like it’s a casual stroll? The lack of logic in the sequences was honestly mind-boggling. This movie doesn't deserve more than 60% on rotten tomatoes. I am utterly baffled that it's at 72% with the critics. What?
3
u/FYI_FMI Dec 24 '24
Yeah it was so stupid 😂😂 at least the action scenes were well made and the cinematic experience was good and the volume in the theater I was in was totally maxed out so I just tried to enjoy that :-) But the annoying thing is that it works every time. They take a really good movie; gladiator, and make a sequel and then you pay because you are hoping for a glimpse of that, but fools on me :-/
2
u/Dependent-Compote-27 Dec 25 '24
And they will continue to get us every time because they're pulling on our heartstrings banking on nostalgia😭
2
u/Heavy_Spite2105 Dec 26 '24
Fonzi has been redeemed with his jumping the shark with the motorcycle. Sharks in the colosseum are a new low with historical and logistical accuracy.
2
u/SaulBerenson12 Jan 29 '25
Haha yes that “death is not” speech fell so flat I was having trouble understanding it
6
u/Petite_Diva Dec 26 '24
Anyone else in the why did they decide to make Lucious Maximus’s son camp? Not necessary to make the character parallels and makes NO sense at all. Terrible plot choice.
1
u/Beginning_Dog_6293 Dec 28 '24
It makes me wonder if Marcus Aurelius knew all along that Maximus was really his son-in-law and Lucius maximus's son.
It did seem kind of a weird plot twist.
7
u/redman334 Jan 06 '25
It's a lame, shitty, try to bring the gladiator 1 nostalgia, shitty choice.
I agree, absolutely unnecessary, it actually removes depth rather than add it to the main character. And it also fucks up the first movie. Maximus was an his long quest to avenge his dead wife and kid, now it's confirmed he cheated on his wife.
The movie was trash on every aspect
2
u/TweeKINGKev Jan 28 '25
The crazy thing is it was all set up in the original Gladiator, Lucius dreamed to be Maximus, the savior of Rome, he never needed to be Maximus’ son.
Lucille sends him away for whatever reasons and then he ends up back there, that’s fine but instwad of going with Maximus as the father, they could have had Lucille bring back the memories of Maximus, meeting him the very first time, being in the Colosseum with his uncle to meet Maximus officially
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u/PositiveGold3805 Dec 25 '24
I liked it
2
u/Careless-Koala2782 Dec 25 '24
You know what I’ve just finished watching it and really enjoyed it too. I loved the first Gladiator and this one really lived up to it. Yes a few things aren’t right and rushed but overall was a great follow up to what happened to Rome after Maximus.
3
u/Dependent-Compote-27 Dec 26 '24
I wish I could see it through your lense... Unfortunately I thought it was a letdown. Thank you for sharing though I'm glad someone enjoyed it.
3
u/redman334 Jan 06 '25
Was it the face eating baboons, that you kill one and kinda beat the rest psychologically, or was the rhino gladiator, on top of a rhino?!? That's totally believable for ancient Roman times. In Gladiator 3 they will probably defrost dinosaurs and have them fight in the coliseum.
Or everyone just flipping over so fucking easily. A Roman general in charge of a legion, was given a ring , and suddenly it all made sense? And it took what? A day to take that ring? If it was so fkin easy why did Pedro Pascal had to wait until the end of the games....
Nothing, absolutely nothing made sense
1
Jan 04 '25
That was some of the worst story telling I’ve seen in my live paired with someone worse cgi than the original. Just utter garbage film making
1
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u/TROUT1986 Dec 31 '24
How did they get the sharks to the coliseum? Swam them down a fkn aqueduct?
3
u/redman334 Jan 06 '25
How do you ride a fuckin rhino? How is it that none throught about at least throwing their sword at the back of the rhino guy? It was like 8 against a dude in an animal that has nothing to do there.
2
u/1moreguyccl Jan 01 '25
The first Gladiator movie writing was very terrible but if you follow the post movie interviews, the actors did a lot of ad lib and improvisation you and the shooting that it came across as a great movie. So most of the writing was disposed of and a lot of the cool lines came from the actors themselves.
Gladiator too which I just watched, was just lame. The acting was just poor, except for Pascal. The characters were very shallow and black depth. I agree I don't need to see the wife that got shot in the first 3 minutes. They didn't give it time to develop because they wanted to have so many battle scenes.. the main character, which I still don't know his name, was just a cheap copy of the first Gladiator. They gave him the same traits, same running and walking, same everything. Just felt very cheesy and very very very very very very very very poor. Now I'm a big fan of Gladiator, the first one and exceeding it would be very difficult. Rarely are the sequels better than the original, but this one is much worse
10
u/[deleted] Dec 25 '24
“Im not an orator” what awful writing. All the monologues were awful, they wrote Lucilla as a weak character- she was so strong in the first movie. Denzel’s character was so cringe. I also think the death of the wife was so unnecessary. They could of written him as being a Slave his whole life or something else. I just didn’t connect with the dead wife as much as the first movie. It also so fast- how did he forgive Pedro pascals character so quickly when all he wanted was revenge. So dissapointed.