Sir Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator II’ wows audiences at CinemaCon
What we do in life echoes in eternity, and now the power of the Roman Empire readies to leave audiences in adulation once more with Sir Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II which will be the utter event movie of 2024.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Gladiator II swept audiences in the most appropriate place: the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The footage on display dazzled audiences.
It features a special introduction from the legend himself, Sir Ridley Scott, who described the film as ” possibly even more extraordinary than the first.” Rising star Paul Mescal commented that it was a ‘standout moment’ in his life to date, and two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington promised that the film was filled with ’emotion and spectacle.’
Footage displayed a thoroughly jacked Mescal, who is a gladiator thrown into the fray and sees him fighting murderous baboons, as well as a soldier on a rhinoceros. At one point, the Colosseum is filled with water for an epic ship battle.
It also seems that Mescal’s character is inspired by Crowe’s Maximus. “I remember that day. I never forgot it. That a slave could take revenge against an emperor. That a slave could get justice in the arena,” he says at one point in the footage, referencing the climax of the first film.
New details from the footage also reveal profoundly anti-war politics, with Pedro Pascal playing a Roman military figure who no longer wants to sacrifice Rome’s young men to war and death and is thus condemned to fight as a gladiator, while Washington is a former gladiator turned arms dealer who becomes a guide to Mescal’s revolutionary, and who has bitter grudge against Rome’s new emperors, Caracalla (Joseph Quinn) and Geta (Fred Hechinger). Quinn’s initial performance has been lauded by those lucky enough to get a first look at the footage, and Caracalla is said to be even more murderous and insane than Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).
While little detail is currently known of Gladiator II and its immense epic story, its sounding very clear that audiences will be entertained when this bold feat of filmmaking lands in cinemas on November 21.
Image: Universal Pictures
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
