It’s the feeling of eating McDonald’s after having the best gourmet burger.Gladiator was made in Ridley’s prime, the story is epic and novel, the music is godlike, oozing in “Maximus” charisma (pun intended). The movie is the pinnacle of a hero’s journey.Gladiator II is a fun watch, but you can feel like it is chasing its predecessor’s footstep every step along the way, and every step is unironically a bit inferior.Ridley Scott gets a lot of respect for directing a movie of this magnitude at 86, and has a funny presence for being blunt on the internet.But it also shows that with age, some decisions are just poor decisions. The visuals feel more plastic, less refined, quite CGI heavy in the naval battle scenes; the music is best when it imitates Hans, less so when it swims between generic period and epic sounding tunes. The characters are good, but one defining decision moment happens very quickly and feel unearned.For some reason even though Gladiator II is a less faulty film than Napoleon, I actually prefer the later, the sequel to this Roman epic story is a bit too plain and predictable, ultimately falls short to my expectation and emotionally less compelling.Verdict: 75
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