A Brutally Honest Review Of Gladiator II

So much.

You're listening to a Muma Mia podcast.

MoMA Maya acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast is recorded on. Did you love the episode we did on Paul Mescal about how he supposedly runs away from his one night stance. That wasn't all we talked about, but let's be real, it was the most absurd part of it. We thought we'd share an episode of mum MIA's daily celebrity podcast, This Spill, because they did a brutally honest review of Paul's new movie

Welcome to the Spill, your daily pop culture fix. I'm m Burnham and I'm Laura Brednick Hand. On today's show, get your horses and carriages out because we're diving deep back into the BC time. Also AD unclear, it's AD. We're going back to the Roman Empire where Paul Mescal killed everyone. We are going to be doing much anticipated, brutally honest review of Gladiator too.

Yes, and we can watch us always in there if you're not across our brilliant honest reviews, they are where we let you the audience know they're coming. So you know whichever movie or TV show that we're going to be having a passionate debate about, and it's really just a space for us to give out honest thoughts, behind the scenes stories really go deep into the core of this thing that has we have been obsessing over us since we saw it. And obviously spoiler alert, we're going

A full week, which we are very kind people, We'll give you a week to watch it. But yeah, spoilers.

Yes, I mean Paul Meskal said he wanted people to see this in cinemas and if you've disappointed Paul, I'm just gonna say that's on you.

You disappointed us.

So Gladiator two with what we're here today to discuss. So, first of all, life to ask you a very important question. You've seen Gladiator the original?

Right?

Yes? But I saw the original after it was announced? Yes, but you went did your home or I didn't know where you went to the premiere? Many did not bes a mess, Russell Crow because.

As we were sitting in the premiere and Paul Mescale had just come out on stage, and it was clapping and the lights were about to go down, and that is when a number of people around me leaned over and whispered, what.

Is Gladiator the first one about? Right? You can't be Australian and not know what Gladiator is.

Well, just in case some of our listeners are also in that boat that they just have no idea where the original movie is. No, no, your points did.

I was in that boat until like a month ago.

I just thought that everyone was sitting in the cinema about to watch this movie. And it's fair enough that you hadn't watched the first one if that was your choice, and that's the piece you'd made with what over God that you subscribed to. However, it's a weird thing to start worrying about it as the lights go down. So just in case anyone else is in that boat. Gladiator came out in the year two thousand.

You've had twenty four years to watch it.

Yeah, time is it digging historical epic drama directed by Ridley Scott. It was a huge success when it came out in the year two thousand. It was actually the second highest grossing film of the year. It received almost universal critical and fam acclaim. Everyone was basically saying, this is the best movie we've ever seen. It also went on to win five Academy Awards, including the very coveted Best Picture and also Best Actor for young Russell.

Crowe, Ah, Little Hotty and.

The most Oscars I believe one of any movie that year. So a real clean sweep across the board. So in the original movie, Russell Crowe plays a Roman general called Maximus who is betrayed.

I won't get into the backstory. It's you know, it'siler last twenty four Yes, spoilers, classic guy staff betrayal, revenge.

You know man is Megan Man killing other Mega men? Yeah, men don't know how to work with their feelings. And it said they go on epic quest to you know, take down their enemy Barton. So Russell Crowe is you know, Russell Crowe, Maximus, they're.

All very entertain it's Russell and Paul.

Yeah, we're gonna be calling them Russell and Paul henceforth instead of their character names. So Russell Crowe reduced to slavery, becomes a gladiator and rises through the ranks of the arena, and spoiler Rolert because it's very crucial to Gladiator two, he dies at the end, which brings.

Us to he had a good run? Did I think he did? I guess he died trying to like save his feet for a purpose, something greater than him as a man.

Any of us can ask for. I meant, I don't want that to be me.

No, I would never die for anyone.

I wouldn't if anyone wouldn't die for you, wouldn't I Kim our producer. I'm just saying that now.

But speaking of Kim our producer, So you're saying this, this is a recap of Gladiator one, because okay, you do kind of have to have a sense of Gladiator one before you watch Gladiator two. However, I was sitting between our video producer Julian and our producer Kim. Both have watched Gladiator, both had no idea what was going on. The amount of questions I got from these two people was insane.

People asking me questions in the movie quite stresses me out because I'm like, please hold questions to the end.

First of all, no talking during the movie. You're interrupting me watching men kill themselves.

Second of all, I hate it when like, I guess this is different, because they could be like, is that the guy from the first movie, and you can be like, no, shut up.

But it's more so when I want to see like one hundred years old.

There's so many movies I go to and listen to a brand new story, and like a friend or whoever I'm with from work will lean over and say, what's happening here? I'm like, we have the same information. We're watching the same movie.

My mom does that all like opening credit. Yeah, She'll be like, why are we at the beach? I'm like, Mom, this is literally the first thing. I don't know why they're gonna tell us. Okay, now we put that gripe out there.

We had to get that's just a love letter to all of our friends and family not to talk to us in the movies. So basically, Gladiator two takes place many many years, like well over a decade after Gladiator one. And we know this because the son of Maximum Lucius, Lucius was a child in the first movie, and now he's a grown up, buff, adult man in the form of Paul Mescal looking very hot. It must be said and will be said many times throughout this podcast.

So that is the biggest spoiler in the entire film. I think people knew that growing in, right, Yeah, I knew it, But that's because, like we're Gladiator fans, there are some people in the cinema, Kim, who were like, what's going on? Who was that?

So after Maximus was killed, Lucius was like spirited away secretly by his mother Lucilla, played by Connie Nielsen, who is reprising her role from the first movie as Maximus's lover.

Can we talk about some low brow rumors for a second. Oh sure. I was watching an interview when they were doing the press junket with Paul Mescal and Fred Hegenjer, and the interviewer asked Paul if Russell Crowe had called him and like given him some tips, and Paul straight away was like, no, I haven't talked to Russell Crowe, Like I haven't talked to him at all, and I was like, knowing what we know about Russell Crowe, he's an angry man. It has to be said. He would

Can I tell you a rumor that I think an unfounded and unfounded accusation it must be said around why there might be bad blood between Paul Mescal and Russell Crowe, a rumor that we are starting here on this very podcast. I mean, the bad blood. This one's been around for a while. I mean, when you have a blockbuster movie like that, of course everyone starts saying afterwards, after one of the oscars have made that much money, sequel, what

How did he think he'd come back he died?

Well, apparently he favored a fantasy element in bringing Maximus back to life. But the studio were the ones who were like, no, it's not we can't bring you back to life in any kind of way. And they were the ones who were really pushing on having his son take on the main storyline because they were like, that kid, what happened to him? Surely he grows up to be a little mini Russell Crowe when he cast a hot young actor done.

Something like a faster situation. Do you know where he appears in the stars and he's like Lucius looked to the sky, I am always with to you and he's like, wait, you're my dad. I thought you were just some idol.

I liked It's funny because they kept having all these almost like ghostly moments rut the scene where Maximus aka Russell Crowe was meant to be there, like did you see how like the wind swept some of the gradd They tried.

So hard to make it look like Russell was there, and we knew he wasn't there. Well, that scene right at the end where he's like stroking some flowers, like a field of flowers, and he was stroking the gravel where his father died. My god, I wonder whose hand that was. I wonder how much I got paid.

You know, to be Russell Crowe's hand. So that all happened. Okay, back to the original movie. So yeah, it was a little fun segue rap Russell Ckroe.

He's still alive. But is his career? I don't know. No, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine.

I once bumped into Russell crow at a premiere and because of whoy we're standing our faces smashed together and our noses touched, and that's beautiful. And he looked angry at me, but he looked angrier at all the people around us who were there to support his movie. So okay, just an angry man.

So it starts off with Paul feeding some chickens, right, He's like in his beautiful country home with his beautiful wife, his hot hot were the most good looking people in all of the land, probably in that entire century. Everyone who looks at them, just can't stop staring because you know what, they've got vineers, they've got great they've got great skin, they're muscly, they're.

They're both warriors too, two sexy warriors who fell in love and got married.

I don't have a single nick on them until we'll get there. We'll get to the next But they're living in this place called Numidia. It's a place around Rome, and it's during the time where the Romans wanted to take over every village, town, country city around them because they wanted to be the ultimate ultimate city. So I think Numidia was the last one that Rome had to take over. So Paul's like, got the boys together, we got to get ready. We also find out that he's

Wife, Paul's hot wife. That was actually a very sad moment. A lot of moments in this movie are very cheesy and silly, especially it has to be a lot of the deaths because some of them as the movie goes along, some of them get a bit comical.

We'll get to it shucks.

But Paul Muscal's wife I thought was quite sad because they make eye contact.

Everyone around them is dying.

And then that arrow just like pierces her heart and she looks so shocked, and then she just falls into the water. And then they have almost like a dream sequence where you see, you know the legend that you get when you pass away, you get rowed across the river sticks by the ferryman, and that's what Paul was seeing as his wife got onto the faeryom was rowed away, which means she died.

Because he got knocked out as well, so he was having that dream. And then he wakes up on the beach like the soldiers pulled him on to shore, and he sees his wife's body floating in the ocean, and he goes to run towards her. I don't know how he got there so fast, because I thought it was a riptid because he was going back and forth. But he gets there eventually, and then he does like this big sob and.

Then we I thought it was he can see that he wants to bury her, but he knows the soldiers are coming to take him, so he does that really beautiful thing where he just tries to pull as much as the arrow out of her heart and then pushes her ount to the ocean because it's obviously He's like, I can't do anything, but I don't want my wife's body floating with an arrow sticking out of it, So all I can do is pull it out and just push her, and he keeps the arrow.

Yeah, the arrow is like a little motif of a reminder of his wife throughout the entire film. Oh yeah, I was quite much.

Yeah, it is an art choosing gladiators, they're usually prisoners of war.

I claim this city for the glory of Rome.

You have something in you wait, never let it go. It will carry you to quatness.

Okay, So that was like probably the saddest part. Oh there was a few sad parts, but that was like the big sad one where we're like, oh shit, this is real. We then find out that Pedro Pascal is the general of the Roman Army. He doesn't seem to crash hot about his job. It just seems like something he's got to do. He's trying to quite quit pay the bills. He's trying to quite quit not conquer any

Yeah, because he set it through the eyes of poor Mescal. He is seen to be like this vicious killer, and I guess you know, he was leading the army that killed his wife and his friends. But what we see about acacious Pedro Pascal's character is that he is a soldier and a general who thrives off defending Rome and defending.

They have the best character development in the entire film. Yeah, he really because you see him in this impossible situation. And then now he's because no one's actually attacking Rome because they hold all the armies in land and all that sort of stuff. Now, the two emperors geta played by Joseph Quinn and Emperor karro Kella played by a good friend Fred, basically just thirsty for more power and more land. A young men who don't know anything different.

It and sending a Casius out to all these different places to conquer, where he's like, I just want to be at home with my wife. Let's talk about the Empress for a second, because they were very well done and as.

Scary they were because they.

Have that thing, like we were saying when we did our little review of this on a previous episode, is that they have that thing is that they're entertaining to watch. But they're also like I have like a deep hatred for them, and I think that's very hard because to hate a character, you also have to see them as

And they wanted people to take them seriously. It reminded me so much of Jeoffrey and Game of Throne had that same character one hundred percent. And I think we talked about in the last episode in such a dangerous villain because they don't kill out of hatred, they kill

So Ridley Scott described the characters as damaged goods from birth, and this is the wildest thing I've ever heard. So Apparently Joseph Quinn, who plays guitar, said that he was being really careful not to soil Joaquin Phoenix's performance in the original movie, who was the villain, and so he didn't look to him. Instead, he took inspiration from Philip Simoor Hoffman's villain in Mission Impossible three one of your favors, I'm sure, and also Gary Oldman's character from the Fifth Element.

You're gonna drop a troop bomb right now, are based on the cartoon Beavis and butt Head. No you can't take me, but you cannot take my bumbhole. I am the Great Corn And once you hear it, oh my god, you can't unsee it. He watched Bea.

So it ran from nineteen ninety three to twenty eleven, like it went for so long, and it was basically about these like really dumb teenagers and all the crazy, ridiculous antiques.

They get, but you love them.

It was like the epitome of like dumb humor. Yeah, oh my god, and how they each other up and everything. Literally, this whole epic dramatic story is based on Beavis and butt Head.

And it was, yeah, their whole thing, and they're like obsession, Like I think my favorite scene in the whole movie was them calling in Paul to watch him fight. Yes, So what we just skipped over was like all the strong men from Pedro Pascal from the place that he just kind of violently murdered all the survivors and the strong men were taken prisoner back to Rome to be sold as gladiators. The person who controls the gladiators and

Even there being evil, campy, ridiculous, Like Denzel Washington was like, it's so funny because everyone feels a bit like they're in a different movie, but it all kind of works, so it actually.

It feels like they're in a different movie because they all kept their accents. Yeah, everyone kept their own accents.

Everyone's like, we're all in Rome, but we all apparently grew up in different places and we will not address it. Paul Mescale feels like he's in a limited drama series.

Yeah, what's going on? And I do well.

Apparently Ridley Scott cast him after he watched Normal People because he was looking for a comfort show. I love that Ridley Scott watched that show before you did. He's like became a Normal People fan before you because you.

Haven't called Normal People a comfort show.

Deeply.

Yeah, I was like, oh my god, Ridley, please, I can give you much better. You're clearly not on something. You're a woman struggling Forella.

And he was like, oh, that man's interesting. There was many people up for the role. One of them was Austin Butler, and I'm just glad that didn't happen because he's such a method actor. He would have tried to like fight actual gladiators and he would be killed.

Find him in the zoo just trying to slay.

All the other monkeys have like taken him out because like, I think you could take Austin Butler.

Yeah, it can't be a method actor. I'm glad it was Paul. Also, we forget that they filmed this really early on, yeah, because I forgot that, like he did all of the other stuff that's come out, like after some and things like after Gladiator. Yeah. And it's crazy how he probably filmed all of this with like no press because straight after normal people. It was during COVID, so no one really knew him. He had time to put his Instagram on private, he did all of this stuff.

It's the sequel too, of the biggest movies in the world. It's funny because Ridley it's like, oh yeah, I jumped on the zoom with Paul and gave him the role after he saw him with normal people. And I'm just imagine how that conversation went. Is like Ridley Scott saying, so, do you want to be in Gladiator too? And Paul going yeah, all right then and look it worked out. And then Pedro Pascal, I think he's in Gladiator. He's in the Gladiator that the film. Pascal's like, shut up,

It just works, and somehow Denzel Washington is still best. Probably he's probably like now taking as a joke and is trying like maybe I'll just try to like chill, chill with this one. You're still Denzel watching.

There's such an opulent like kind of flair to his character Macretus, we should say, although we just call him Denzel as he goes through, because you can see.

That he plays like a queer icon.

He's plotting, and he's dangerous, and he's moving all the pieces around, and.

He's the one who he thought was safe and then we realize he's not safe and he's actually insane.

And he'll shake your hand, pour your drink, and then kill you. That kind of a villain because so many times, just before he takes someone out does something, he's so soothing and he's so calm, and he'll give you a kiss on the cheek and he patting your head and next mente he'll stab you through the heart or have your brother slit your throat, or turn you out of your home, like there's no stopping there.

So true. And also because Denzel Washington plays such like wholesome, like the good guy, like he's the main good but he's got a lot of villains. Over he had a lot of villains, but he's always like the guy that everyone just wants to be. Like. He's a good action hero. He's so good.

He's a good, quiet dramatic actor, which is why it's interesting that he chose to like he's one of those actors where he can just like be very like very still in a scene, but he can still carry the drama of it, and you see the camera just like finds him wherever he is. He doesn't amag saying he makes everyone lean. Then yeah, he makes everyone leaning to him. I just imagine I've got to yell for everything. Imagine

He comes across firstly as someone you feel like you can trust, Like he almost is like a mentor to Lucius, to like Paul mescal where he wants Paul to be like his best fighter. Yeah, and he's like, what do you want? And Paul's like the entire and then dells and Washington's like too much, But then he does it. He gives it, and he's like, here's your army. I've done my job. What are you going to do for me now?

And then he's like I want the head of General Acacius.

And then yeah, and then Paul had to go and be like, actually, this is not what I want. It's like, well, too late, So.

I've drawn you away from your favorite part of the movie, which I have to circle back to. So that's that's where all our players sit at this part. And then they have the first task where they have to even just see if all these slaves who they've brought in, who was going to be strong enough to even be up for auction as a gladiator. And that's where some creatures come in.

Oh my god. Okay, so I got really confused in this scene because the first gladiator scene where the gladiators are fighting, you think they're going to fight each other, but then like there's herd of monkeys just come out of nowhere ready to attack them. And I was looking at these monkeys and I was like, my monkeys like this back then, what do you mean? They were like they were insane monkeys. They were like dinosaur monkeys.

They I'm not completely that surely is not what they look like back then. I mean, potentially, I don't know how much monkeys have changed over time. I guess they have, Like the thing is where would they have gotten shots? So I'm jumping her head, I'm jumping ahead.

Going back to the monkeys. So it's hard because they they were smart monkeys as well. Yeah, like they knew they kill a man, and they knew they had to kill a man in the first place. If I was just a monkey there, I'd be like, oh what am I doing? How have they thought? The monkeys from fighting each other?

Because each month an individual fighter I had a game.

They were sitting with Denzel Washington and are watching it was giving them a fight.

They were weirdly like CGI monkeys, but in a weird way, like could that have been real? Apparently they actually did. Used to put many different animals in those arenas. Soles exist back.

Like, yes, Emily monkeys, he been around for a long time. But those kind of monkeys were crazy. The CGI monkeys, I think they knew they looked insane. They look like monkeys from like Planet of the Apes, if Planet of a took place in like.

Twenty thirty four. Yeah, they was an alien element to the monkeys.

You're right.

And even though they were throwing those darts at them through the different cracks in the coliseum to make them angrier. They still I guess we're very targeted. But then also poor Mescal has a very kind of throw down moment with the monkey that he's fighting.

He first tried to protect his friend, who tragically died. Yeah, he just but he was ready to die. He was like, it's my time. And then yeah, poor Mescal, I don't know, pulled out some chain.

You're forgetting the moment where he bit the monkey's arm and the monkeys screamed that was.

I And they didn't have raby shots back then, so that was a gambling itself.

I just remember going, ew what, I'm like, it's literally germs the least off his problem is. But imagine putting your mouth on a monkey. I was like Poorman Scale, I would never And.

The monkey then like kind of respected him for a little bit, Like there was a hot second with a monkey looked at him and he was like, I cannot believe he just did that to me. But honestly, reprospect, he's like, he fights sturdy and I'm loving it. Somewhere in the universe there is an old script where poor Mescal and the monkey form an alliance and then we have Planet of the Apes. This is actually the prequel prequel series, the Apes.

Even though they've made lots of those, no one talks about it.

No one's going to talk about it except us, okay. And then they had a few more animals, so there were a lot of fight scenes, all like one step bigger than the last ones. We had monkeys. Then we had the rhinos scene.

Yeah, which iize, I do believe they had back then in the cool fights.

And we talked about how it's okay to use a rhino because back then they weren't extinct and they didn't know what's going to happen to rhinos now in twenty twenty four, So they were like, it's fine to use I own you.

Now, but whose head could I give you to satisfy your fury?

The General will do.

Rome has taken everything from me, but I will have my vengeance.

It's clinic of meeting for you in the next life. I don't know why you are so really freed in this one. It will clear my path to the throng. You will be my instrument.

I will never be your instrument in this life for the next.

We then had the ship scene. Yes, And now this brings me to my favorite part. Of my notes I've made under a subheading called Ridley Scott and the Sharks the Internet. No, so, really, Scott does not like when people question his movies in any way. He particularly doesn't like when people question the historical accuracy of his movies.

He's protective of his art. So when he released Napoleon, remember did Napoleon movie? It kind of didn't didn't really take off.

Yeah, with Yking and Phoenix, there was a scene that turned out to be quite controversial movie. He does love a water scene. He also loves a cannon scene. So in the scene he has Napoleon fire cannons at the Pyramids, and people got very upset about it and saying it wasn't historically accurate. How dare you he wouldn't have done that. They didn't have those type of cannons back then. Like, people got very intense.

Anything Napoleon beckted the Pyramids.

That was like, did Poline actually do that? You're like tarnishing his name? And then really Scott didn't into the times and they asked him like big backlash to the cannon scene, do you want to speak on that? And he said, excuse me, mate, were you there? No, we'll shut the fuck up. And anytime anyone has asked me about the cannons, he's like, were you fucking there?

Were you fucking there?

No?

Oh my god.

And look he makes it because you know what, we weren't there, and also neither were you. But he's just saying we should all like leaves making scenes. No, unless you're making your alternative cannon scene, leave them alone. So they see in the movie they flood the Colosseum with water and they have two different ships coming.

So I thought the water would just sink through the ground.

Well apparently they actually did that. Yes, I went, Brad, I went to the Colisseum this year, that's right.

Yeah.

And as I walked around, I was trying to just listen to the history from the guy because it was amazing and.

I was just going through a drought.

As I was doing the tour of the Colosseum in Rome, I was trying to listen to the guide. I was also trying to look for the cat that was there that apparently it like attacks people, but if you scratch it's tummy, it rolls over. So that was really taking up a lot of my time. But I also I was thinking about poor mescal and Pedro Pascal because I knew this movie was coming out and so I was trying to store all the thoughts in my mind. And the guy was saying that they did used to fill

That's pretty cool, I mean tragic, but cool. I don't want to see one be killed for fun.

But apparently when this movie came out, because as we were watching, even though I had that in my head that they had filled the Colosseum with water, as we were watching this scene in Gladiator too, I was like, guys,

Y're all like big size sharks family, so many sharks. Where were the baby sharks? I guess they have the sharks before putting them, maybe because maybe that's why they ate the men so quickly. The sharks eat themselves.

Because like sharks don't just see any kind of human being and being like I'm just going to instantly, like revenolessly attack that person.

Like there's different sharks like eating people. I was listening to an episode of The Quickie and they had a shark and they asked him where their sharks in the callers there. No, They asked him like about like shark attacks on people, and they said that shark attacks happen out of accident, not because the shark wants to eat

Well, during the press too, someone did ask him from Collider and they said the sharks weren't there in real life, and Ridley Scott said, you're dead wrong. The Colosseum did flood with water and there were sea battles. Dude, if you can build a colosseum, you can flood it with fucking water, are you kidding? And to get a couple of sharks in a net from the sea, are you kidding? Of course they can, Yeah, you're idiot. I love.

How we just had a conversation about how to get the sharks in and he's just like, what do you mean they got a net? No further question.

So Ridley Scott says it's historically accurate, So we're gonna say it's historically accurate, even though it was very funny to watch.

So I also want to talk about Colie Nielsen's role, the role that she reprised Lucilla, who played Maximus's lover and then Paul Mescal's mum in this new movie. I mean, what a woman. I found her role quite interesting. It feels like her role was the one that kind of pieced everything together because she had like a few dramatic scenes, but it also felt weirdly rushed, Like I felt like her scenes in particular were very rushed, especially between the

Like, well, of course, because he feels like, just to defend Paul mescal for a moment, he feels like he was sent away and then forgotten about. And he's looking at this woman and you can kind of feel like he knew straightaway that was his mum, but he was

Yeah, he killed my wife. Yeah, it's actually quite a good setup. It's good. And he yells, he's like, get out of my room. And then she tries to say something. He's like, gout and then they don't talk again. And then the next time they talk, I'm like, oh, no, he's going to yell at her again. He's gonna yell. They haven't talked since that first yelling situation. Immediately forgive him. He's like, Okay, well he's got a lot going on. He's trying to save Rome. He's like, oh, he's trying

That's actually meant to be a really beautiful moment. And I just feel like you haven't taken it in here. It's so every time I see you recently, you'll just say that randomly, Oh.

This ring next to my wife's. He's trying to be nice about it. Thank you, mom, I forgive you to give you mom.

Because because Paul Beskil doesn't have a lot of lines, he doesn't have a lot.

I think that's a except for that one poem yes, which is like the one line that he says that everyone remembers.

That's a creative choice and it does kind of work. He's meant to be, you know, he's always watching and reacting and when they ask him to speak, he's like he's like no, they're like speaking English. He's like yeah, sure whatever.

Yeah.

He doesn't have a lot of dialogue in the film, but I think that kind of works to his character. It does a lot of breathing and a lot of brooding and a lot of just like what strength.

And on ah and then everyone's like yeah, I guess sure what he said with both of those.

But a lot of it is just like close ups of his face and his body, like reacting to things and taking things in. And I think that's interesting choice, Like you can convey a lot without dialogue. Sometimes in these movies they can be too much dialogue. If you get into historical drama, and there's a lot of exposition, a lot of explaining, a lot of men walking around and brooding.

Is he educated because they like so. You see a scene where like he's a young boy and then they come to find him and then he gets sent away by himself on a horse.

Yeah, and the different community, but he still was like educated while he was like living in Rome with his family. He does speak well, Okay, weird thing for us to be debating, but I think that's maybe just how they've kind of done his character. It's interesting because with Gladiator too, like I just think like if it wasn't done properly, it just would have been the most boring movie. And I think the original scripts around it very much center

I'm out.

But the movie caters to I think what people want from a movie in terms of like action packed, a very fast, fast paced and the stakes are very It's kind of like the stakes are out there of like this is a really bad guy and this is the good guy, and that's it. Everyone's stay in their lane. But it kind of does work because it's a it's a cadence of storyline that we really recognize.

The characters are still developing in their lane to an extent. It's almost like if you had taken out to the Vicious Killing. This is a kid's movie about an orphan. This is Disney movie about an orphan taken away from his parents, coming back and fighting the bad guys and saving everyone, Like if he took out the killer monkeys and the killer sharks and the static and the sadistic emperors and the fact that one of them is dying from syphilis.

This is a kid's movie. It's very good versus bad, but adults need that sometimes too.

Yeah, it was just such a good watch. Like I definitely, as you said, wouldn't watch it because I do feel like Gladiator one was more of a drama, like there was so much it was more intense in that way where the plot line felt like there was so much at stake, whereas like with Gladiator two, because it's kind of like the same storyline as Gladiator one. You kind of know what's at steak already, so you can just like enjoy.

It just feels like more like an action, popcorn summer kind of movie. Okay, do you want to get into ending, which is actually quite sad because you think a lot of people are gonna you think like they're gonna do this. They go into you know, get out of here, and then death after death after death.

I got quite confused. What were you confused by? I was confused right at the end when he was giving that speech and there were thousands of people, and I was like, oh, I hope the guys at the back can hear him and they don't just start killing people because there's no way they can hear him. They're so far bad, Like how do they all know that we're not fighting? Like, I don't think that message has been passed on accurately.

Okay, So in armies they have like systems in back in the olden days, and they have like walkie talkers or you think of how to like pass that along, like you have a person who's in charge of like each section.

Pass it on, pass it on. Stop you're feeling you're getting a message going kill and you're like, wait, kill, just because one guy forgot to say stop killing. Okay.

But before that, we have Denzel Washington rising to the power of emperor because.

Quickly he tricks Overnight.

That was an intense scene. How he tricks the brothers, He tricks the little Emperor. This is how we can describe. He tricks the little Emperor, whose brain is at all by syphilis, which is very sad for him, tricks him into killing his brother because Denzel's thinking like the younger one, the little one is easier to control out of these

And then but they killed him anyway, and then Paul went, look what you do. Do you like this? You're the killing of your general. I'm like, all right, I feel like Paul's in the room, that's right.

I think they were trying because one of the most infamous scenes from the original Gladiator, and the one that people still repeat to this day, is are you not entertained? And so I think they were trying to make that happen. But which she said that how good would that be? Might have been two on the note he was understanding ovation. But you know what I thought was the real kind of just the one of the ugly kills is when Lucilla Connie Nielsen, his character is tied out on the thing in the.

Middle, like she was the last living person for him. Yes, like the last person who like probably had love for him.

Yeah, he lost his wife, he lost all of his friends, he lost his mentor, and that was like just when he got to Rome, and then.

He was losing after me. The credits is still it's love.

It's peoful opening scene. And then he's lost a lot of people that he'd made friends with since he got there. He's lost Acacius, who was like a new friend, Danizel he thought he was going to be there, trained betrayed, and then he's only got Connie Nilsen left. And the way she dies with Denzel Washington acting, I'm just going to say, like a little spoiled brat, like he's losing the war and he could just run, he could leave, he could find his army.

He wanted to take everything from Paul mescal and she's like, this is not your movie movie, Denzel Washington, and.

Then Denzel Washington, the man, the actor takes the bowl and arrow and shoots her through the heart in the same way that Paul Paul Mescal lost his wife in the opening scenes the film with an arrow through the heart.

I'm surprised he's not traumatized by I think he is traumatized, is what we see throughout the film.

And then it's really on I think is a cinematic way to describe it in terms of.

The battle kicking horse chase.

Yes, but then we have what everyone has been b for, which is the epic threw down between Denzel and Paul in the river.

You know what, it reminded me of what Black Panther. Oh yeah, bit of a and men fighting in water is dangerous game because like when there's drowning involved, that takes it to a whole new life.

Stabbing through the water, stabbing you can't see who's moving where or who's doing what.

They would be very intense people just rises. Yes, man, he did look like a became victorious, and then he had to stand between the Roman army and the other army, which I'm getting the other Roman army, the friendly Roman army and the other Roman army and say, look, guys, it's been a Dan. Well, let's just put the swords down, like we're all fighting for the same thing. Sometimes it's men. We need to like let out our emotions in a different,

Telling or not someone tell us? And we're killing great and then they kill poor Mescal. Unfortunate with that for me, goddamn it. And after that you want to have this real victorious moment of like, they won, the good guys won, but there are no winners in war. A series Animalphs taught me that there are no winners in more. It's

Pulls out the little arrow and then he does that touchy dirt thing that he loves, and yes, because he's remembering, he's trying to feel like tied to his father and how he died in that moment and how he's standing there.

And this is because Paul Mescal is a good actor. You see in his eyes that his character is thinking, I am alive, but I am dead inside. And even though everyone is celebrating around me, there is no celebration for Paul.

Mescal until Gladiator three.

Do you know? They're talking about that, and it's going to follow in his next like through this next part where he's been given this big power that he doesn't want.

But you know, them all the emperor now and he's like, no, we talked about this, boys, there's no empress.

And he's like, you're the emperor and they're like, it's either you or the monkey because the monkey is officially taken in charge, and so one of you is going to have to step up. But you know, one of the reasons that people really want Gladiator three besides the fact that we all really loved Gladiator two and we want to see we want to see what other animals they can put in them at Colosseum. We want to see more death and blood.

Is it because they want to rub it into Russell Crowe more Russell Cross at home. No, He's like, how about come back? And it goes now.

He's like, if you could have bloodthirsty, mechanical sharks and alien monkeys, you can have Russell Crowe back.

I'm saying, my mafussa pitch is pretty good. It's prett good. We should send that to them. No, they want to see Paul Mescal have a love story. Ah boring. I want to see por Maskell kill more men. Yeah, I just think give the guy a minute. Wid Yeah. I think it's because people just want killing and they want sex. They just want normal people what they want.

Daisy Ridley appears, Daisy, so Daisy egger Jones appears.

Well, that's why they cast Joseph Quinn because he Quinn's dead. So Paul's like, well, who's.

Gonna be Oh my god, Daisy ed goad Jones can appear as the sister of the emperors, and even though women can't have power at that time, it's going to be her evil husband, who.

Like Hell's the evil husband and him and Daisy get together and then they make normal people too. In Rome, it's like Emily in Paris. In Rome, normal people do.

In Rome, it's all happening anyway, thank you for listening to our very unhinged, brutally honest review of Gladiator two.

Hope you like the movie.

The movie because we really enjoyed it. We owed you all to see it. And yeah, look, any day where we're seeing a mustly poor moss girl and his perfect teeth, even though historically and accurate, run across the screen, is a good day.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the spill. We do so many really honest reviews. We're gonna link a bunch of them in the show. Note make sure you watch them first because we do talk about spoilers and get in deep. But we will be back here on your podcast feed at three pm on Monday. Bye byell It, Love It.