Gladiator II

"don't fall for it, this city is diseased"i was genuinely blown away. i was happy with how accurate it was (ignoring some minor/stupid mishaps - not everything can be perfect; also willing to overlook the sharks in the colosseum because it went so hard) and the quality was just brilliant and it still had the same vibe as the first film. pedro pascal was BRILLIANT, paul mescal i fell in love with him and his acting, joseph quinn blew me away, fred hechinger made me snort out loud laughing, denzel washington. IT WAS AMAZING. i couldn't look away or move during any of the action scenes they had me on the edge of my seat. the direction and composition of every single fight was SO well done. the commentary on roman politics was exquisite UGHHHH. i think every american should be forced to watch the gladiator films there is so much to be learned from them.. but anyways my only critique is that i feel the ending was a little too dragged out but other than that ugh oh my god film of the year absolutely  also i didn't realize that was joseph quinn until halfway through oh my god the transformation was unrecognizable also also i wish people wouldn't focus so much on comparing this to the first one, comparison is the thief of joy 😑