Gladiator II
Like most Ridley Scott affair from the last 20 years I think this will end up finding a more solid audience in a couple years upon reappraisal and the benefit of hindsight. Just this past October I witnessed Alien: Covenant get is time in the sun for being a hateful dread inducing gothic horror underappreciated masterpiece and so on, and I can't for the life of me understand why this isn't getting that same recognition. Well I can partially understand it since we are coming off the backs of a 20 year old inspo-boner flick that won Best Picture, but I wouldn't say that Ridley has a history of consistent sequels either (as Alien so demonstrates). And that is what this movie is: inconsistent; however, that is exactly why I think its brilliant. Its my most common touchstone for discussing this movie, but I think of this as a sword and sandals movie by way of Michael Bay. Thats not because it showcases any familiar Bayhem, although it has its spectacle, but because its a spiteful movie filled with hateful characters working off a story you would otherwise root for. In the first film that dream of Rome everyone is so hyped up on is mysterious and inspiring but here it is burning hot with rage and contempt. That dream isn't built of love and desire but rather it is hope born of desperation and survival. When you hear the dream discussed in this film you can't be sure its a good thing, you can't be sure that its the same thing that you think it is. "A slave dreams not of freedom, but of his own slaves." If not clear already this movie is about America, as is everything about Rome in the past decade, but from the frequent discussion of the Roman (American) dream to the orange-haired rulers its impossible to deny it. Its so on the nose that maybe a few years ago I would have found it insufferable but for some reason I just find it thrilling. Its cathartic watching this empire tear itself apart and watching a film spit in the face of the Roman classicism people (fascists) are so obsessed with. I love this movie.