Vexivero

As a huge fan of the original, this movie shits on the legacy of it. Whether you liked Gladiator II or you despised it, I think most people who have watched both will agree that the second is not as good as the first. The original is in my top 5 movies of all time. If you have not seen the first one or barely remember it, you might think this is an ok movie. If you remember every scene like I do, you will see this as being a cheap imitation of the original. The first half to two-thirds of the movie looked like it was gearing to be a poor rehash of the original, although it did go in a different direction towards the end. Ultimately, the problem with Gladiator II is it had such big shoes to fill. The major driving force behind the first is the emotion and the second just doesn't have that. The character Lucius just cannot live up to Maximus in any way with the plot and writing. His "origin" to becoming a Gladiator if you will: Maximus was the greatest general; his wife was raped and his son murdered. Lucius' woman was killed in the battle as a soldier. Maximus is the silent strong type because he carries the pain of their deaths and he is one of the best fighters but doesn't want to fight, he just wanted to go home and live a simple life. Lucius is too chatty and jokes around and smiles too much for this role. He doesn't carry himself as someone who had everything taken from him. The first gladiator scene with the monkeys sucked compared to the first one in the original where they were paired up and the teacher soiled himself. Everything about that scene in the second movie I didn't like; they weren't given weapons and Lucius somehow was the only one to survive by biting the monkey and choking it with a chain while the others didn't do anything? The second battle in Gladiator 2 I actually enjoyed the choreography more but the first had a better storyline. Also it just started with Lucius ordering the men, whereas in the first Maximus asked if anyone was in the army and it was truly about survival. I didn't like the way it ended with him losing and then getting spared but he wanted no mercy; super corny. Denzel is a good actor and I like a lot of his works, but he didn't fit the role for this one. He's way too cheery for my taste. In the original the guy was way better: more of a hardass and much less friendly. Denzel doesn't act like someone who used to be a gladiator. The twin emperors had so much potential to be on the same level or better than the role Joaquin Phoenix played but they weren't given a link to Lucius; it worked so well in the original because it was Emperor vs Gladiator and in the second it just wasn't personal. The sea battle kinda sucked. It was pretty much all the gladiators winning the entire time, they didn't even seem challenged. In the first movie they were getting picked off during the recreation of the battle of Carthage and in this one they lost a few to arrows and otherwise dominated. Even Denzel was laughing 1 minute in like he fully expected them to win from the start, whereas in the first they were given the worst battle that they were expecting to lose and at the end due to superior tactics they surprised everyone. Lucius never won over the crowd like Maximus did. Maximus was a leader that had the respect of all the other gladiators; his men protected him and would die for him. Lucius didn't project that same energy.