Gladiator II (2024)
“What we do in life, echoes in eternity”
Sunday 17th November 2024 was a rather fine day to be alive on planet earth. You will find no spoilers here or indeed within any of my voluminous film reviews as I leave such vacuous nonsense to the children of The Matrix. Who needs spoilers when you can form your own opinions on the latest blockbuster from Tinseltown and anyway, the human story is always far more interesting. Take, for example, the excitement I had for the year 2000 original and, unable to wait for the official UK release of the DVD, I purchased an American import, only to work away from home for a couple of weeks and all the while this package from the good ole US of A sat unopened on the doormat of a home I wouldn’t see for 14 days and when I returned, well the UK had finally released the film on DVD and I needn’t have imported the film from the other side of the world. Or yesterday, and a free cinema ticket courtesy of my “Brother Andy” (who isn’t my brother) for whom our cinema trips always, without fail, end or indeed begin, with the foulest of weather. Yesterday it was monsoon rain that greeted our departure from the dark confines of our local picture house but which still paled into insignificance when we laughed at the snowstorm we had to drive through to watch Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, only to find snow drifts surrounding a cinema that was closed! We returned the next evening through yet more snow, and my failing memory suggests we were the only patrons for a cinema now open but as cold and dark and as full of snow as Tarantino’s latest cinematic offering.
The human story is always far more interesting.
As another example, take my son’s reaction. Too young for the original, he rates Gladiator II as “10 out of 10”, “amazing” and “far better than the first film”. He’s wrong on this final point, but I love him (even though he saw the film on opening night and two nights before I did) and looked aghast as both of his parents said, on completely separate occasions recently, that they cried at the end of the film based solely on the profound and sublime use of the sound track from the original film at the end of this one. The soundtrack to Gladiator has been a musical companion of mine for nearly a quarter of a century now and my goodness it was wonderful to hear parts of it again yesterday. 24, nearly 25 years, gone in the blink of a Roman soldier’s eye.
What I listened to in the year 2000 still echoes through my eternity.
Where Russell Crowe was Ridley Scott’s leading man a quarter of a century ago we now have Paul Mescal, and the 28 year old Irishman from Maynooth in County Kildare is as magnificent as the film that surrounds him. Paul first came to my cinematic attention in 2022’s truly stunning Aftersun (directed by Charlotte Wells) before turning in yet another impressive performance in All Of Us Strangers (directed by Andrew Haigh) a year later. Both films share many common themes, one of which is incredibly personal and one is mine and perhaps, mine alone. Spoilers again prevent me from elucidating any further other than to say both films are remarkable cinematic achievements and both may well break your heart. I described All Of Us Strangers as “ripping my heart out and throwing it onto a broken table” and if that isn’t a recommendation then I don’t know what is!
In front of the camera: Paul is supported by Pedro Pascal hot on the heels of the runaway crossover success from gaming platform to TV series and The Last Of Us, and Denzel Washington steps into the duplicitous Roman sandals of Joaquin Phoenix of the original film. Suffice to say, the master is magnificent and clearly loved his role here in the sequel. Connie Nielsen reprises her role from the original film, as does Derek Jacobi and whilst Matt Lucas is clearly having a ball as the master of coliseum ceremonies, special praise (as always) is reserved for Tim McInnerny who whilst will forever be the put upon figure of fun in the BBC show for the ages BlackAdder, is superb here as a gambling addicted Roman Senator.
Behind the camera: Ridley Scott has done it again! 29 films and counting and thankfully for all concerned, the 86 year old from South Shields, Tyne and Wear in northern England shows no signs of slowing down. John Mathieson’s cinematography deserves a special mention alongside the editing of Claire Simpson and Sam Restivo and where Ridley relied on the incredible musical score of Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard for the original, here it’s in the very capable hands of Harry Gregson-Williams. This is their sixth collaboration to date and interestingly the fifteenth all told with the Scott family after Gregson-Williams worked on nine of Ridley’s brother Tony’s films.
After thanking my brother who isn’t my brother for the freebie cinema ticket with a pizza and my delightful post-film company I returned to my home away from home, found my decades old American import DVD of the original film and returned once more to gladiatorial Rome. The parallels with the new film were stark: the intensity of the Saving Private Ryan style beginning, the glorious if brilliantly short and shot battle scenes, the in-fighting and squabbles for power, the high ranking soldier becoming a gladiator, the love of a family to which he desperately wishes to return, the arch manipulator, the performances guided by a hall of fame director and the soundtrack, oh the soundtrack, ancient and modern, that made me cry once more.
The human story is always far more interesting isn’t it?
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Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.
I've been looking forward to this movie for a long time. To hear that it doesn't disappoint is great. My biggest problem with Roman historical, it that they seldom stick to actual history. But Ridley Scott seems to actually read history before embarking on these epics. I'm willing to let them bend a few of the facts to move the narrative along...but I still have to wait until next weekend.