First reactions to «Gladiator II»: «Absolute Stupid» with a bid for «Oscar»

Ridley Scott has been nominated three times for «Oscar», and according to the film industry representatives who attended the premiere of «Gladiator II» in Los Angeles, this film will eventually bring him the long-awaited statuette.

Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington are also predicted to be nominated — the latter already has two awards, while the actor who played Lucius was nominated for his leading role in «Aftersun» (2022), but never received a statuette.

In general, the first reactions to the screening of «Gladiator II» were somewhat mixed. Below are some quotes:

• Gillian Chillingerian, OffScreenCentral: «Engrave Denzel Washington’s name on the «Oscar» for Best Supporting Actor».
• Scott Mantz, co-author of KTLA: «Epic sequel with action, amazing visuals and stellar acting».
• Simon Thompson, freelance film critic: «Gladiator II shows the richest feast with a mixture of epic action and incredibly crude betrayal».
• Matt Brennan, LA Times: «Absolute nonsense. We are back to the bloody costume epic».
• Drew Taylor, The Wrap: «Relax, Romans. «Gladiator II» — is the kind of large-scale cinematic perfection that only Ridley Scott could achieve. Everything about it works».
• Abe Friedtanzer, freelance film critic: «Gladiator II is a decent but unnecessary sequel, full of big speeches and large-scale battles. Its best moments are the musical references to the original. Paul Mescal has a powerful fighting energy, but among the actors, Joseph Quinn and Denzel Washington stand out the most».

«Gladiator II» takes place 16 years after the events of the original film and focuses on Lucius (grandson of the former Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and son of Lucilla, played by Connie Nielsen). The protagonist lives with his wife and child in Numidia, but after the invasion of General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), he is sent into slavery — in fact, he will repeat the fate of Maximus from the first film (and here we decided to add drama, because Lucius, as it turned out in one of the previous trailers, is actually the son of Russell Crowe’s character).

The roles of the tyrant emperors this time were taken on by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hutchinger, while Denzel Washington appears as the former slave and now powerful villain Macrinus (this is all that is known about the character, but given the critics’ claims of «Oscar», it is interesting to see what he will do).

It should be noted that the first trailer «Gladiator II» initially faced a flood of hate — at least on the video, viewers disliked rather than liked it, and criticized the use of rap against the backdrop of events in ancient Rome.

Scott himself later stated that considers «Gladiator II» the best movie of his career andeven announced a threequel. The film will debut in Ukrainian cinemas on November 13.