Charmaine Schirmer

Let me start out by saying that I am a HUGE fan of the first Gladiator movie. The countless number of times I’ve watched it I’m too embarrassed to admit openly. So needless to say, I was really excited to watch this sequel. I started off being really wow-ed by the cinematography, as one would with any Ridley Scott film, and then really repulsed by the two emperors, and finally really excited to see what Denzel would bring to the film. Alas, that’s when the magic faded for me. His acting, doubtless, is as solid as every other role he’s ever taken on. But that’s just it. It’s just like every other role he’s ever played down to the accent of a typical New Yorker down to the same kind of thug walk he has in The Equalizer. I cannot understand why he wasn’t asked to tweak this a little bit in a period film. Just seems very out of place for someone playing a character in ancient Rome. And then without giving too much away, came the scene with the CGI sharks. Really…?? I found myself wondering if dinosaurs were going to start lumbering out of the Colosseum gates for the gladiators to fight. Everything after that was just a blur for me because by then I had totally dismissed the movie as an epic fail. Not because it was unwatchable. If you never saw the first movie, one might say that this would be quite entertaining. But unlike the first movie, this is not going to be one of those go-to films that I reach for whenever I need a comfort binge.