are you not entertained are you not entertained is this not why you were here uh no not really greetings friends what's going on I've just got back from the very first showing of Gladiator 2 at my local Cinema and to cut to the chase it failed to live up to the original well imagine my surprise but more importantly it's failed men and masculinity allow me to explain but just before I do let's remind ourselves of the original movie shall we you remember that right the original Gladiator had a solid Story the dialogue was competent it
had suitably resplendant sound design it was almost entirely practically shot steady cams and Russian arms weren't built the same back then and I absolutely love it the turbulent jankiness complement the fact it's shot on film beautifully it's raw it's unpolished as is the setting it's very fitting those old Ary cameras give it that Earnest analog look that has become synonymous with a fulfilling Saturday night the shot composition is fairly typical but the costumes set dressings and general sense of theater make up for a lack of flamboyance in that regard you won't find any Dutch angles
in this Italia it's basically John Wick Circa 200 ad and that's fabulous there's almost enough John Wick movies to make a legion so a gladiator sequel should be an open goal right well not exactly the problem with the original Gladiator movie is that it's far too masculine and it's far too pleased to be so the story of Maximus Waters the very roots of male nature the idea that a man would find a way to overcome and or sacrifice anything and everything including himself for the sake of his family and honor the staunch friendship and loyalty
that men are capable of compassion and camaraderie the original Gladiator explores almost every facet of masculinity and the consequences inflicted Upon Us by those who cower from it this is of course completely forbidden by today's modern Dogma I mean what you want to make a movie you know bolstering and celebrating raw testosterone painting masculinity as an incontestable Force for good don't make me laugh you bastard yes unfortunately unadulterated masculinity was lost to the riptide of modernity a long time ago I'm afraid even if he could still make good films Ridley Scott set himself an impossible
task a movie with themes that simply cannot be allowed to exist in today's environment and like I mentioned the original committed the cardinal sin of not only promoting masculinity but also warning us of men who do not possess Andor strive for masculinity absent fathers the desperate need for affection and approval that can often [ __ ] men and the fickle arrogance and betrayal that some are capable of throughout the movie masculinity is painted as a source of strength and Redemption hell even the slave driver Embraces masculinity when the time comes and dies with honor but
never mind that because this is the 21st century and we of course cannot have nice things and also man bad don't be a man bad man bad man man don't be a man man bad bad man and talking of Ridley Scott what happened alien Blade Runner Gladiator the guy was batting and now he's going the way of the Tim Burton he has the the same story arc as Cold Play I couldn't even force myself to finish watching two of his latest movies the absolute snoozefest that was Napoleon and don't even get me started with the
last Jewel thank God that Jewel was the last it took me three sittings to get halfway through and even then I ended up giving up it vexes me I'm terribly vexed and that brings us on to the sequel and if I could explain Gladiator 2 in one sentence it would be this one sentence from Gladiator 1 you have a great name he must kill your name before he kills you so come and sit upon my lap and let's discuss why Gladiator 2 electricus balus was so disappointing and it kicks off with like an animated painted
recap of the first movie and the very first person we see on screen it's not Maximus it's not Marcus aurelus it's not comus it's that one female gladiator from the original that was on screen for all of what like 10 seconds the second I saw that I knew exactly what I was in for that Hollywood inclusion chart is getting ticked off real quick so the sequel takes place 16 years after the events of the first film and it kicks off on a farm somewhere in North Africa and the very first liveaction shot of the movie
is the protagonist been scolded by his wife for and I quote not being gentle enough and just before you can say wow Johnny that's pretty stunning and brave it turns out that this couple not only Farm together but fight together as well that yes she's she's also Soldier because because of course she is and on the eve of battle this same woman has refused the right to make an offering unlike all of her fellow male soldiers because we need to smash the patriarchy or whatever but of course we couldn't have a 2,000-year old battle scene
without having a woman join in as well thank you Gladiator 2 very cool but funnily enough this Female warrior uses a bow and arrow and misses all but one shot that she makes while she's on screen what are you trying to say Ridley h and I'm not sure how to put this other than hyper polished modern film making just doesn't lend itself to historical battle scenes very well it's just it's too clinical too stable too clean everything that the battle is not then to his horror the protagonist's wife dies in battle because of course I
mean you know she didn't die at home with the kid like in the original movie boring she don't need no man she died in war because yes Queen slay it's also worth noting that a character has yet to be properly established so we just do not care that his wife's died you know we know essentially nothing about anyone and the only thing we do know is that the protagonist isn't as gentle as he could be so yeah it's it's not quite enough to make us care so it it's already trailing behind the original to make
things even more modern and stunning and brave Pedro Pascal's character General eaus is then ashamed that he won the battle good job your work in the military then mate the first movie is centered around the fragility of Commodus being an existential threat to the Roman Empire and Maximus putting an end to that whilst also avenging his family meanwhile the sequel is about a dirty man in the desert who goes on a remarkably violent Gap here yeah oh and also there's freakish CGI demon monkeys in this one did I mention that Maximus stood for what as
just this protagonist stands for just farming and quote unquote not being gentle enough and nothing else there are just no stakes in this movie also rage pours out of you like milk from a tit is is an actual quote from this movie now I'm not going to claim to be any sort of breastfeeding expert but I'm pretty sure milk doesn't pour from a tit it's not like emptying a two Pinter of milk I think it's a slightly more gradual process than that so not only is that like quite a strange thing to say it also
doesn't make any sense Acasia then has a struggle session with his wife because he's a [ __ ] and doesn't like War remind me why this guy is a general again in the original and yes you're going to hear that quite a lot the main driving force behind maximus' revenge is the Betrayal of Commodus and the fact that he ordered the killing of maximus' family meanwhile the protagonist in Gladiator 2 wants to avenge his wife by hunting down the man who didn't kill his wife but was stood next to the man who killed his wife
and the reason that man killed his wife is because his wife tried to kill the man that he's now hunting to avenge his wife who wasn't killed by that man yeah no that makes complete sense the original was also very raw and definitely lent into realism to great success it felt genuine it felt like a piece of History the sequel however is way too Hollywood way too dramatized at one point in the Coliseum a guy is like impaled by this charging rhino and just like explodes in this like cloud of blood and is then like
flung across the Coliseum and you are immediately reminded that you sat there watching a movie immersion spoiled the entire introduction sequence of the original establishes Maximus as a hero of Rome so when he's discovered to be a gladiator it's no surprise that the crowds love him and begin cheering for him meanwhile in the sequel the people of Rome love the protagonist and I'm calling him the protagonist by the way cuz throughout the movie he's given about 700 different names everyone in Rome loves him they're cheering for him in the Coliseum because and get this he
threw dust at a rhino I wish I was joking that's genuinely it he's not said a word at this point he has commanded no armies no one knows who he is he just threw a little bit of dirt at a rhino and now they can't get enough of it they're screaming for him it it's absurd and just a quick warning I am going to be getting into you know a fairly big spoiler so if you if you don't want anything in this movie spoiled just skip like 20 seconds ahead you ready okay so in the
first movie Lucilla sends her son away because she fears for his life and in this we discover that she sent him to North Africa yes sending someone to North Africa because you're concerned about their safety is the same as burning your house down so you don't have to worry about people breaking into it the motives of most of the characters are completely cooked why why is the protagonist doing any of this why is he going on this journey I have no idea he took his wife into battle with him his wife died in battle so
he chases down a guy that didn't kill her it's literally more his fault than the guy that he's hunting here's a tip don't take your wife to war with you then you don't have to worry about the prospect of featuring in a lukewarm sequel to A once great Hollywood movie and then at the climax of the movie both opposing armies are just stood around listening to this protagonist why does anyone care he was just the Barbarian moments before all he's done is kill a few people that's literally it he said a couple of sentences to
his mother killed a few people and now entire armies are sitting down listening to his story times I just don't get it I won't spoil anything else but M man it's an underwhelming ending and that's a shame because on paper the story is a cool idea I actually really like the principle it's just a shame about the modern execution and everything around it sure the varnish and violence of this sequel will fool the uninitiated into believing that this is a decent movie but it's just completely soulless it lacks any of the burn spirit that made
the original great Gladiator 2 is antithetical to everything that made the first movie iconic this IP has had a seismic shift in fundamental values the original teaches us that masculinity when wielded correctly is as capable of inspiring an Empire as it is capable of felling that same Empire the same cannot be said for its successor this movie teaches us that men lie men cheat men are weak men are solely vengeful men are corrupt and that if you kill enough people other will listen to you oh and don't forget to smash the patriarchy this sequel is
what the original would have been had it been made today it's yet another vapid diluted morally inverted rehash of something that was good so once again I find myself saying just go and watch the original you'll have a much better time you're not missing out on anything appreciate you for watching this and I'll see you in the next one my friends and as always a big shout out to the patreons and the channel members especially the top tiers these are the Knights of law we have Michael tpia paban flunky daggy 69 nice Jax C Michael
M Texas lman ATS St Nemo I thank you for rejoining again my friend it's good to have you around still Steve the goat the grand Admiral Jordan 96 Patrick coin and zdn 94 to each and everyone of the tier tws and the tier ones to everyone on this list thank you for going out you way to support me I really do appreciate it and there we go another day another video will you join me for my next one you better do you little [ __ ] but until then take care and I'll see you very
soon
