Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX
Director Ridley Scott has had twenty-four years to ruminate on the success of 2000’s “Gladiator”, winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Scott), Best Actor (Russell Crowe), Best Supporting Actor (Joaquin Phoenix) Best Original Screenplay (David Franzoni, John Logan, William Nicholson); “Gladiator II” bests its forerunner in cinematography, battle sequences (bloodied, severed limbs and heads) aerial views of the digitalized crowds packed in Rome’s Colosseum, all hail contemporary modern tools of today’s era; the compelling soundtrack sweeps you into the historical realm of majesty, misery and murder; if fantasy is your pleasure, gratification is guaranteed.
Actor Paul Mescal champions the role of the beleaguered Gladiator “Lucius” a “cast away”, who has matured from the original; his parentage in question: mother “Lucilla” (flawlessly beautiful in both films, Connie Nielsen) father, “Maximus” or her brother “Commodus”? My lira is on the erotically lewd, degenerate, brother; Joaquin Phoenix is devastatingly, profoundly brilliant in the role.
Denzel Washington, in a performance of a lifespan is ultrasonic as divinely evil “Macrinus”, a Black businessman, a master manipulator; former slave and gladiator; unctuous, sleazy, cunningly sly arms dealer and lusting to be the next Roman Emperor. Washington studied immaculately and grasps the nuances of a man’s ambitions transcending a minuscule of human decency; watching his performance is reason enough to visit and appreciate “Gladiator II”.
Scott gifts touches of the past, a tribute to Russell Crowe’s subtle, powerful depiction of someone whose loves, lives, are shadowing his every moving moment. It is a sensational, spectacular (with minimal flaws) endeavor, that jets effusive entertainment.
FOUR STARS
Peneflix
