It is highly unlikely, if not almost impossible, that a film will become a classic of popular culture. Few of them manage to establish themselves in the collective imagination. Let a simple image, the tune of your soundtrack or a sentence be enough for people to know what you’re talking about. Gladiator This is undoubtedly one of them. When Roman cinema was dead and buried, Ridley Scott delivered a vigorous update that, supported by new technologies, re-enacted ancient Rome in a tale of revenge that was a box office success – with over 465 million dollars in revenue worldwide. – and reviews.
Gladiator It was the big winner at the 2001 Academy Awards, winning five awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe. It was the transversal film. The one that everyone liked and we already felt its power to penetrate people. Time has proven that this decision was the right one. Although few people can name several of Hollywood’s most recent Oscar winners, everyone knows that Ridley Scott’s film won.
More importantly, we remember its soundtrack, precise shots like that of the hand caressing the wheat, or phrases transformed into anthems like those “Strength and honor” or “What we do in life has its echo in eternity.” In the stage of Gladiator The popular icon also has a lot to do with sports. The film’s masculine epic of sacrifice and dedication was embraced by many football teams and coaches, who used the film as an example to motivate their players. In 2009, it was discovered that Guardiola used footage from the film to boost Barca in their best years.
It is therefore not surprising that Gladiator It’s the typical film that every athlete repeats as their favorite when undergoing those hackneyed tests at the World Cup or Olympic Games. It was because his message was simple and resonant, and it gave them hope in their competition: if you fight hard, if you try hard, if your values are honor and strength, you will achieve what you set out to do. A praise of meritocracy which also hides a conservative message adopted by hordes of incels, who also repeat “Strength and Honor” as their motto or even get tattoos.
Gladiator Over time, it has entered a deserved place in the history of cinema, but also in a place always on the verge of parody. This film was also a product of its time, and its hyperbolic epicness and masculinity already bordered on kitsch. Elements that should undoubtedly be taken into account if someone in their right mind made the suicidal decision to make a sequel to a film as successful and beloved as this one. But we all know that Ridley Scott never cared for logic and over the years he seems to have become a suicide bomber.
He decided to take on the project of continuing the franchise in a film that makes the biggest possible mistake, without considering this film as one that captures the story. the spirit of the timesthe spirit of the moment. To try to repeat it now was to expose the film for what it is: an unintentional parody of everything that made it a classic. Let’s be clear, Gladiator 2 It’s a film that lapses into ridiculousness so many times that many people will even wonder if Ridley Scott is intentionally going for this tone of satire. It’s not possible for a Roman drama to have such kitschy moments so constantly. But anyone who knows Scott knows he could never have taken Gladiator 2 like stupidity, like the gag of Saturday evening live who he becomes again and again by trying to reproduce his best moments again and again.
This attempt to reproduce everything without seeming to do so emerges clearly from the plot of the film itself, a carbon copy of the first part. If there the story arc of Máximo Decimus Meridio was his fall as a general and his rise as a gladiator, here that story is split in two to accommodate the film’s two stars. It will be Pedro Pascal who will stage the part of the fall in general; while the fashionable actor, Paul Mescal, will be a barbarian who will be reborn as a gladiator and will become the nostalgic link to the first film. No sign of trying anything minimally original.
Added to the narrative laziness of a scenario that seems to be written with artificial intelligence is Ridley Scott’s commitment to the worst disease of sequels, the “biggest and most expensive”. Gladiator He was spectacular in his fights, in his fights, and he managed to put the spectator in the arena of the Colosseum. Here, through his tendency to excess, he falls into the improbable and, once again, into involuntary parody. This happens with the scene of some digital monkeys that resemble those of Jumanji, and it comes to a head with the naumachia, a powerful idea weighed down by the idea of putting sharks in the Colosseum (yes, don’t ask how they got them to the Colosseum because you won’t get an answer), transforming a wonderful idea into nonsense. This tendency to excess is also found in his violent joy. There are amputations, decapitations and all sorts of excesses that seem more like whims. The only way to save all this would have been to accept and be aware of the kitsch of the proposal. But that moment never came.
The schizophrenia of the film is also felt in the casting of the actors, each in a different register. No trace of the charisma of Pedro Pascal, who seems lost and directionless; Paul Mescal takes each sentence too seriously, assuming the false epic of the film; The villainous duo of Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn as Caracalla and Geta go too far in trying to copy what Joaquin Phoenix did in the original. Only Denzel Washington seems to understand the balance between the three-ring circus and boring dialogue. Just how you pronounce “policy”, Marking the end in a sly way in a scene that made the audience laugh, he demonstrates a greater knowledge of what is happening. It is true that his role is the most attractive for this reason.
Of course, there have to be enough nods to the previous film. Starting with the story, which although it is implicit in the trailer, we will avoid revealing it, although it is impossible not to highlight this bust which is supposed to resemble Marcus Aurelius, but clearly wants to reveal the relationship between two of the characters. And continuing through the annoying moments for the mythical phrases to come into play – of course you will hear again “Strength and honor” and “What we do in life has its echo in eternity” -; and many more.
They also repeat the values that animated all their characters, and it is here that Ridley Scott returns to anger and love as the driving force of society. Two concepts that were obsolete 20 years ago and even more obsolete today. It’s not the collective. It is not the desire to implement policies of change that causes revolution, but something as simple as the desire to take revenge on the loved one.
