Wait, what just happened? The trailer for a film we honestly thought would be just a rumor for years upon years — Gladiator 2 — just dropped? By Ridley Scott, too? No way. Sure, we saw reports of this being worked on, but we take all sorts of ‘reports’ with a grain of salt (or the sand of the Coliseum as it were), but, I mean….
Let’s break it down for you: the original epic film Gladiator with the illustrious Russell Crowe as the gladiator Maximus and a sniveling Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus Caesar eating up the silver screen was released when? 24 freakin’ years ago.
That’s more than two decades. When us action-hungry mongrels were in high school, we watched it. Now we’re old and gray.
And Now We’re Getting a “Sequel”? There’s Really a “Gladiator 2” Coming?
Oh, but please understand something: this isn’t a cash grab. This is a work of art. At least from what I gathered from the trailer.
And it may be the epic salute we’re all expecting out of a film that may just turn the heads of many Oscars or Golden Globes with a star-studded cast of heavy hitters that would do Crowe and Phoenix proud.
Starting with….
1) The Utterly Radiant Connie Nielsen Is Returning to Her Role of Lucilla
So, as we probably already knew — Gladiator 2 is a true-blue sequel in every sense of the word. Very much a direct follow-up. And it is all connected by a couple characters, one of them being Connie Nielsen. Her turn as Lucilla was utterly divine with her words in the herculean last minutes of the film — “He was a soldier of Rome. Honor him.” — echoing in my ears for an eternity in Elysium.
But it wasn’t just Connie who did us all proud in saluting a great soldier as Maximus as the classic score continued to pound our eardrums with something of valiance, merging tentpole action, popcorn and a masterclass in acting. (We’ll get to the other returning character further down).
Yet we’ll address more impeccable choices for a film of such stature.
2) Wait, so Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal Are In This Film?
Remember Proximus? The so-called “ring-leader” bringing Maximus into the foray of gladiator-ness of the bloody kind? Oliver Reed was in many ways a lynchpin for a film that would maximize Maximus’s touch on the silver screen and keep us glued to it for the entire runtime.
That’s essentially 2-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington this time. He plays Macrinus, a scheming figurehead in getting our lead character (who we’ll get to here shortly) into the forefront of the politics and the defiance we all love to see on screen of not one, but two emperors? (What?)
The Mandalorian, of course, Pedro Pascal has traded in his helmet for a tunic in his turn as the main villain General Marcus Acacius — a man who once served under Maximus’s command. Pascal’s repertoire, of course, is just as impeccable, so we’re itching to see how this will play out as it looks like this is more than just defying an “emperor” (or two “emperors of Rome”, as it seems to be in the trailer — how does that work, by the way?).
It’s instead defying an entire regime, a government. So, no doubt — the stakes are higher in Gladiator 2. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
3) Of Course, You Can’t Have a Gladiator Film Without the Enigmatic Djimon Hounsou
Yep. He’s returning to reprise that awesome role of Juba, ally to Maximus — the man who basically closed out the original film with the iconic words — “And now we are free. I will see you again…. But not yet.”
Dry those eyes, my friend. Because we’re willing to bet one of the scenes in Gladiator 2 will be Juba seeing Maximus once again in the afterlife. A death worthy of a warrior.
All of This, of Course, Is Accented By a Performance That May Just Make Russell Crowe Cream Himself
We couldn’t help but mention the boy Lucius from the original film — who we see much older played by the talented up-and-comer Paul Mescal in a way that just begs for us to root for the so-called “underdog.” Why? Because he’s not as imposing as Crowe.
But, boy, does he have an energy that bleeds into your soul. And you better believe: he’s a welcome addition to Ridley Scott’s endeavor here, which you can’t deny — this is Ridley Scott we’re talking about. He doesn’t make ‘crap’. I even thought the more modernized ‘hip-hop’ score of the trailer didn’t take away from it. But that’s just me.
Gladiator 2 will open in theaters to a crowd of blood-hungry Romans, chariots and rabid animals on November 22, 2024. It may make you famished for some Thanksgiving turkey, too.
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