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Highly Suspect Reviews: Gladiator II

Gladiator 2 Movie Review

GLADIATOR II MOVIE REVIEW

After 24 years, Ridley Scott decided to dust off the old Gladiator garb and make a sequel to his 2000 epic that won the gold at the Oscars. Does Gladiator II have the same chances at becoming the best film of the year? Highly unlikely. Paul Mescal takes on the titular character this time around as a warrior sold into slavery and then rising in the ranks as a formidable gladiator at the Coliseum. Sound familiar? Well this film also stars Denzel Washington as Mescal’s owner and Pedro Pascal stars as a general that led to Mescal’s slavery. So that’s different at least. Washington’s character Macrinus is a slight breath of fresh air as a scheming would-be politician trying to get in the good graces of Rome’s twin emperors played Joseph Quinn & Fred Hechinger. Even Pascal’s Acacius is a sympathetic general trying to enact real change for the Roman people. One of the two returning characters, Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla, has a fairly large role in the film, and who gives Mescal hope that he can overcome the odds. Listen as Wright, Jason, Ben, and Marco discuss this, some would say, useless sequel and if holds up in Scott’s filmography.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Ridley Scott

STARRING: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, Alexander Karim, Tim McInnerny, Rory McCann, Yuval Gonen, Alec Utgoff, Yann Gael

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

” width=Wright Sulek (Screener Squad, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Trash in the Can, Audio Editor)

Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox.

 

 

Jason Fisher (Screener Squad)

Born in New Orleans, brought up in Austin, and raised by cinema, Jason is an animator and filmmaker with decades of experience working in the arts. Before even graduating high school, Jason was animating and podcasting with the Austin-based movie review site Spill.com. From this formative experience, he gained an eclectic taste and knowledge that he carried into a rich career working in the animation industry. Notable projects include Marvel’s Hit Monkey, FXX’s Legion, Netflix’s America: The Motion Picture, and working for companies including Nickelodeon, Rooster Teeth, PBS Kids, and many more. As a cineast, it’s his belief that his favorite movie is one that he hasn’t seen yet. His thirst for great art is unquenchable, whether that means consuming it or contributing to it himself.

 

 

Ben Glasthal (Highly Suspect Review, Screener Squad, Breakfast Pub, Unstabletop Gamers, Video and Audio Editor)

Born in Boston, then ending up in Dallas, Texas in the early 2000s, Ben has always had a passion for film. He started in film school not long after where he launched MovieReelizations.com where he still writes reviews to this day. He’s since moved to Austin where he has been also hopping on podcasts and both editing and shooting videos for One of Us. A fan of films from almost all genres, and many that predate him more than makes sense, he is anything if not eclectic in what he’s watching at any point. For the rest of his free time, he can be found biking, drinking craft beer, being an amateur photographer, and playing video games by himself or on Twitch. He’s best found on Instagram or Twitter as @MovieReelBen.

 

 

Marco Noyola (Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Audio Editor)

By day, Marco is a mild-mannered office worker, but by night he is a mild-mannered movie watcher. He does other mild-mannered stuff too.

“You don’t need to follow me. You don’t need to follow anybody!”

 

 

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