Hello, and welcome to the Geeky Brummie Film Roundup – bringing you the newest champions of the cinematic arena each week and explaining why you will be entertained. This week is dominated by a certain swords-and-sandals sequel…
Usual disclaimer: unless otherwise stated, I haven’t seen these films. All of my opinions are based on trailers, early reviews and other rumours and buzz.
Gladiator II
The swords-and-sandals genre might not be as big as it used to be, but Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic Gladiator proved there was still life in that arena. Featuring great performances from the likes of Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen and Oliver Reed, a suitably epic soundtrack from Hans Zimmer, a very quotable script, and some spectacular fight choreography, the film earned 12 Oscar nominations and won five of them, including Best Picture. A mere 24 years after Maximus Decimus Meridius went to the great wheat field in the sky, Sir Ridley is back with Gladiator II (the 2 is, of course, in Roman numerals).
Stepping into the pit here is Paul Mescal’s Lucius, confirmed in the trailers to be the son of Maximus and Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla. After witnessing his father’s death at the hands of the Emperor, Lucius has made a new home for himself away from the city. But that peace is broken when his home is destroyed by the Roman general Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) in the name of the tyrannical new Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). Working as a gladiator for Denzel Washington’s scheming Macrinus, Lucius must fight his way back to the Colosseum and try to replicate Maximus’s last stand in order to have his vengeance.
As we discussed on the podcast at the time, the original trailer for this had some epic moments (I’m still very excited for the naumachia scene) but its rap music soundtrack felt alarmingly at odds with the classical tone of the first film. Fortunately, the later trailers have ditched the hip hop in favour of some more traditional orchestral music courtesy of composer Harry Gregson-Williams, who replaces Hans Zimmer for the sequel. As much as part of me is disappointed not to have Zimmer returning, I have a soft spot for Gregson-Williams after he wrote the theme music for Chicken Run, which was used in my graduation ceremony, so I’m happy that he’s stepping in here. He has also worked with Ridley Scott before on several occasions, including the hugely underrated Kingdom of Heaven, The Martian, and more recently The Last Duel.
The cast provides a little more connective thread to the original, in the form of Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi. For the most part though it’s a completely new generation. Paul Mescal has gone from strength to strength recently, getting heaps of critical acclaim for his performances in Aftersun and All Of Us Strangers – this is doubtless going to be the first of many roles in much bigger films. Pedro Pascal is playing Pedro Pascal – I love the guy but ‘morally ambiguous Mediterranean warrior’ is a role he could play in his sleep. It will be fun seeing him interact with his future Fantastic Four colleague Joseph Quinn who, alongside Hechinger, looks like he’s channelling John Hurt’s Caligula from I, Claudius in all the best ways. And Denzel Washington will add a bit of gravitas to any cast.
The other element we were slightly worried about when we discussed the trailer was the obviously-CGI rhino, and the reveal of the even-more-obviously-CGI baboons in subsequent trailers has not allayed those concerns. They are distractingly fake, especially when contrasted with the live tigers used in the 2000 film. But it’s pretty clear why they couldn’t do that here. There are many people out there who will gladly train a tiger for use in film production. Training a considerably less intelligent rhino or a full pack of baboons is a much greater challenge – CGI is a lot safer for everyone involved. I do wish they’d made a bit more effort to make them look more realistic though – fending off a horde of angry apes is a pretty terrifying prospect, and a good filmmaker should be able to capture that without needing to make them look like little demon monkeys.
But that’s a minor gripe over some scenes that should just be brief set-pieces to keep the energy going. The most exciting fight scenes in Gladiator were the ones where you were invested in the story of the humans involved, culminating in a tragic showdown between a doomed Maximus and a desperate Commodus. The cast in this sequel is certainly strong enough to recapture that intensity. I doubt that overall this will be anywhere near as good as the first film – that’s a very high bar – but I do think this will be the sort of epic storytelling that cinema was made for. Gladiator II gets a nice big historically inaccurate thumbs up from me.
- Gladiator II on IMDB
- Gladiator II on Rotten Tomatoes
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
There are a few other films released this week, but as I’m short on time and (at time of writing) it’s the only one appearing in any of the Birmingham cinema listings I checked (at the MAC, if you’re interested), this is the only other one I’m going to cover. It sounds like a fascinating watch though. In the early ’60s, the CIA send Louis Armstrong on tour to the Congo to distract the nation while they helped stage a coup against Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Shortly after Lumumba’s execution, fellow jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the UN Security Council in protest.
This is a documentary featuring archive footage and interviews of such jazz icons as Armstrong, Miles Davis, Nina Simone and Duke Ellington, about a period of history where the African American cultural scene was unwillingly swept up into African-American geopolitical relations. The film currently has a very healthy 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and I expect it will do well when the Oscars come around – given that the ceremony will occur shortly after the inauguration of a new President who’s famously unpopular with the Hollywood elite, a film about artists calling out the US government’s more racist and paranoid practices will probably strike a chord with Academy voters.
- Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat on IMDB
- Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week
Russell Crowe’s Maximus famously said that he will have his vengeance, in this life or the next. I can only assume that he meant the film’s next life – Gladiator II – will be selected as the Geeky Brummie Film of the Week.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Paddington in Peru
- Heretic
- Anora – I’m still playing catch-up at the cinema at the moment so was a little late catching this. It is still on in some of the independent cinemas though and I cannot recommend it enough. The first act is fun if a little slow, and works well at setting up the characters and premise. But as soon as the Russian oligarch’s bickering, weary henchmen get involved in the second act it becomes riotously entertaining – one of the funniest films I’ve seen all year, thanks to carefully written characters brought to life by perfect performances. Anora (or Ani) herself is a wonderful creation, walking the line between carefree, spontaneous youth and pragmatic, street-smart realist. You’re completely rooting for her by the end of the film. Find it and watch it before it goes. But maybe not one to watch with your parents and certainly not with children…
Trailer of the week
There’s been a slew of exciting Marvel trailers coming out of the D23 expo last weekend – including Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and more – but I’m going with a teaser for the end of a franchise that pre-dates even the MCU. After more action-packed instalments than any actor in his 60s could possibly wish for, Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is set to finally retire and put his feet up in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Picking up where Dead Reckoning Part One (do naming conventions mean nothing these days?) left off, this will see Hunt and the rest of the IMF team face off once more against the rogue AI program known as The Entity. The MI films, and Cruise himself, have become known for their increasingly insane stunts, and this one seems to have him dangling from the side of a small plane as it spins in mid-air right next to a very solid-looking mountainside. The only thing missing is the iconic theme music, but let’s face it – at the first mention of Mission: Impossible your head started filling that in anyway. Altogether now: dunh, dunh, duhduh, dunh, dunh, duhduh…
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