Everyone's been screaming this for the last few years at him but he's never gonna stop. I don't get it. I know we all need to pay bills but there has got to be other sponsors out there on YT
There are a ton of things to hate on this film. The worst being the Denzel character running out of the Colisseum after finally getting what he'd been working for in the whole film: to overtake the empire. Then what does he do next? He leaves what is possibly the safest more guarded position of the empire on a horse outside the stadium, exposing himself and leaving with just him, his sword, and a horse. Like WTFFFFFF lol. And then the movie just ended so abruptly, as with almost every scene in this horrible film, we don't even see Lucius do anything with the victory and instead cuts away to the credits. HAHAHA . This movie was atrocious. I didn't even know that was Lucius from the first film, either...like isn't the original actor still acting?? Why'd they get some Russell Crowe Temu version lol, the dude had zero charisma and just looked generic the entire film. What a load of crap this film was, so disappointed.
@@aaadesktop yeah no offense to the actors themselves, but it's rare that a film has so many complaints about acting...when there are, you know that it was legitimately bad acting
@user-andrew89 ya not being racist at all, we all know Denzel is a legend. But this casting choice felt crazy forced. And if they wanted to do it to explore the whole "slave to riches" storyline they alluded to, they didn't do nearly enough to build that out
BetterHelp agreed to pay $7.8 million to settle the FTC's charges, first announced in March 2023, that it used and revealed sensitive consumer data-specifically email addresses, IP addresses, and answers to personal health questions-for advertising purposes.
This is not in support of any particular economy at all....but probably every company you can think of has been fined and leaked customer data. If it is important to you we should be fighting for better privacy protection laws in the US like other countries have.
@ yeah but it’s beyond disgusting when a company gets to know your biggest pains, mental issues and traumas and sell that knowledge to companies using your weakest points in life to make money on it. That’s beyond evil.
Just seen it and I wholly disagree with you. The story was all over the place, with no real protagonists, no real villains, no real goals. They tried to do several things at once and it totally messed up the pacing and all character arcs fell short, which made it feel like being too short and too long at the same time. The action was good, the cast's acting was good, but apart from that the movie just wasn't good.
It was NOT good. I don't even take Chris's reviews seriously anymore, he caters to powerful people in the industry. I've already unsubscribed, I was just bored and wanted to hear other's thoughts on the film.
I wasn’t mad about it and with no trailer spoilers, I didn’t think it would actually tie in so much to the first. With that said, it’s interesting to watch these directors get worse over time somehow, when they should be honing in and getting better. Maybe age, covid, and whatever workforce they have to work with has to do with it??
Same- love Chris’s reviews but what a WASTE of acting talent. The writing was garbage, I literally didn’t care about any of the characters. The action set pieces were basically drawings I made in crayon when I was 7. I think Chris’s “not criticizing film makers” has turned into the movie version of “he beats me, but he always says sorry.” 🤦🏽♂️
Then your quibbling over semantics moron. People don't watch movies to criticise the reviewer, they watch movies to criticise the film. And if the review isn't descriptive enough for you. Then go see it and judge for yourself. Thats the point of the question, genious.
@@ronan.pellen is 'pretty much everyone' just people in your internet bubble? I believe the answer to that is yes. This isn't a universally disliked movie.
Agreed it was a terrible movie... it was bland and had absolutely nothing to add to the original, plus Denzel was on his trainning day MO... it was awful...
@@channelZER01people who try to dismiss peoples opinion on someone else’s opinion is a dumb opinion because everything being said is an opinion therefore your opinion about his opinion about Chris’ opinion being wrong because he likes all movies is pointless.
Ridley Scott has to be on the Mt. Rushmore of filmmakers for not only creating some of the most influential films ever, but to still be this strong at this age, and this consistent.
Note: I prefer Cameron as a filmmaker, but Scott is fantastic. You think of those two with someone like Spielberg and Kubrick. Hitchcock too. That has to be the 5 most influential imo.
@ I just mean consistently putting out well made films still is crazy. It’s a team effort too though. The last film of his I really enjoyed was The Last Duel. Solid film.
No. Tarantino, Spielberg, Scorsese, Kubrick. Ridley Scott, while the director of some of my favorite movies, has been pretty inconsistent. It's hit-or-miss.
Terrible take. Gladiator II is rubbish. Story was incoherent and full of holes or unreasonable events. No back story given to the main villains and those emperors were so pathetically weak in character that I was surprised anyone with a sword put up with them for 5 mins if they were real people. I was yawning non stop half way into the movie. You don't get any connection to the main character and he doesn't earn his respect like Maximas does in the original - just starts randomly leading. His ending speech was completely uninspiring, the resolution to the tension between him and his mum came out of nowhere with no explanation, the final fight is meh, the cgi animals are horrible and finally the music is completely forgettable. How can you even think of praising this movie?
I really wanted this movie to be good, but i share you exact sentiment, plus the dialogue was bordering on cringe at times. I feel like this should've been stretched into a miniseries with explanation of characters and some build up.
@flonoiisana4647 Nah. He's alright. You're just an asshole. You want to watch a reviewer who tears one every movie you don't like? There are plenty of reviewers like that. Just go watch those.
I think the dude is trolling us by now. He sounds so robotic and fake. I haven't watched any of his videos in YEARS since that video of him telling us about his preference identity. I couldn't care less. Now... He's not even the shadow of himself, just a robot programmed to praise Hollywood. And he's either really bad at it or just trolling us. lol
Gladiator 2 sucked. The main actor is rubbish because he is so weak, not a leader of men and has zero charisma. Densel Washington is a great actor, but spoke with an American accent as if he was in a cop movie, it was never going to work. The two Roman leaders were childish and ridiculous. Nothing made sense it was embarrassing. I was looking at my watch halfway through, and already going to IMDb to read reviews because they were more interesting than the film. Why can’t we have decent actors anymore and stop with the woke nonsense. Gladiator 2 was a remake pretending not to be remake, it absolutely bored me from about 5 minutes in because nothing hung together and the casting was shite. My local amateur dramatics society does better casting than Hollyweird these days.
@@hamwhackerHarsh commentary. I thought it felt a lot like the first one and the new actors surprised me. I didn’t expect much out of this film walking in only for Denzel to tell the truth. It impressed me as a meaningful sequel to mark the end of the downfall of the brutal Roman Empire’s disgusting inhumane Colloseum shenanigans.
I'm never impressed by his script for these reviews. I feel that he has good taste and understanding of what makes art great, but his writing skills aren't as honed.
Hasn't made a good movie since the Martian. Feels like he's doing like Clint eastwood just pumping them out faster as he ages he delegating all the work which makes decent but not great products.
2000 / People watch Gladiator and go home with their own opinions. 2024 / People watch Gladiator and go home and watch TH-cam reviews, scroll social media for unconscious biases, and have it out in comment sections.
exactly. people need to enjoy what they want. stop being influenced by these idiot video essayist like the critical drinker who contribute nothing but being an edgelord full of misery.
Better Help is a dangerous and misleading product/service. Also, does anyone know that guy who made the Stuckmann cartoon thing still going? Lol that guy was awesome.
Nah, Better Help's gotten better. I think there's testimony for TH-camrs on Reddit who did some research and say they feel safe doing ads for them now.
@ nah, Cleopatra involves Julius Ceasar, Augustus, Marcus Antonius, Agrippa, the two civil wars of rome, battle of Actium +++ One of the most eventful periods in history that changed the world forever.
And a war general probably responsible for a lot of other people's tragedies. For the glory of Rome... That's my main problem with the first film, even though the character acknowledges this himself, but we as audience tend to ignore it. Because the movie is that good.
Honestly I never understood the hype around that movie...it's just some bland movie to me to the point I like Troy better (and I find Troy bland too).it's not that epic..maybe it's just me🤷🏿♂️
What’s up with all the damn negativity in the comments!? Sweet baby Alien, you “movie goers” only see movies, yall don’t WATCH them. I LOVED IT. Especially for a period piece (fictional but I digress). It’s very well put together. The editing was great, the set pieces, and the sound design was honestly great! Y’all talk about “go touch grass”… why don’t YOU go touch ch grass!?… Gladiator II was a great concept and continuation and I’ll leave it at that… FOH 😤
@@rtleesontrue, but historical accuracy allows for credibility. The colosseum was flooded but no sharks. Do you think if they included a few dragons, it would have made for a better movie.
The movie was not bad. But I think this review was too nice to the movie. The First Movie: The first movie was a very well-executed epic with great story beats and a plot that is grounded in reality and sets up characters and their motivations very well. I wasn't crazy about it, but it's a good 8/10 movie with minor problems like Commodus being way too evil and not having his own motivations to rule Rome except for being evil and insecure, or the fact that the romance between Maximus and Aurelius' daughter was very forced and unnecessary. Beyond that, the movie had a great narrative that legitimately made you worry about what happens next. It had great suspenseful moments like when Commodus realized who the Gladiator was or when Maximus had to fight Commodus with an unfair stab to his chest before the fight. Those were incredibly great moments. --- The Second Movie's Problems: I enjoyed the second movie thoroughly, but there are certain things like the unbearable number of characters and the failure to flesh these characters out well enough that brought the movie down for me. Pedro Pascal's character was like a copy-paste of Russell Crowe, and it felt like his entire arc could have been replaced by Lucius' own mother, as the conflict between the two was basically identical to the conflict between Lucius and his mom. I would not be surprised if the execs wanted a famous face to stamp on the posters and wrote a character just for Pascal. The two brothers were by far the worst part of the movie. They were described as evil and corrupt rulers of Rome, but it was never shown in the movie itself. They mostly behaved like edgy, pretentious stoners in their late teens who love to watch gore, and any motivation beyond that was completely missing. The monkey that one of the two had was an incredibly weird attempt at comedy, and it felt out of place. Lucius' motivations were flown over at a rapid pace. He had a wife who was killed in battle, and the bond they had was not conveyed well enough. In the first movie, the bond was conveyed through Maximus' insatiable need to see his family. He was in huge mental distress at the thought of not seeing his family, and the build-up to him losing his wife and child took the time it needed to. It happens around the 40-minute mark in the first movie. Lucius lost his wife within the first 5 minutes of the movie, and he pretty much forgets her in order to replace his motivations for his seething hate of Rome. His "power" wasn't set up as well as Maximus'. The first movie took a great deal of time to prepare how strong and intelligent Maximus was, and you feel that during the fights. Lucius, on the other hand, was exactly like Maximus in battle strength and intelligence, but there was no real reason why he would be so triumphant. Denzel Washington's character was underwhelming. The way he moved the chess pieces in the narrative was not conveyed well enough, and his intentions weren't clear, in a way that made him look more like a loose cannon and less like a mysterious mastermind. He did have a pretty impeccable smile, though. The movie attempted to have these very strong story beats similar to what I mentioned about the first movie, where you genuinely feel for the consequences of what is happening, like the moment when Lucius meets Pedro Pascal's character, but these moments lacked a lot of weight. The stakes felt less important because they weren't treated with the same thoughtfulness and patience for the narrative. The final showdown was incredibly weak compared to the first one, which was very unexpected considering the fact that most of the action scenes were a big improvement from the first movie. There wasn't a huge presence of conflict between Lucius and Denzel Washington's character. Yes, it was the good guy vs. the corrupt guy, but the interpersonal weight of why Lucius was fighting this guy just was not there. In general, the relationship between these two characters was incredibly weak. It was the classic good man vs. bad man and not much beyond that. The movie even does this extremely weird thing at the end, where it teases you with this MASSIVE amount of soldiers ready to fight against each other, and it purposely does not deliver, which would have been okay if the final showdown wasn't such a wet towel of a fight. The small moments, like when Maximus put down his sword when Commodus pretended to not have one anymore, only to pull out a hidden dagger from his chest piece, added SO MUCH to the interpersonal conflict within the action scenes that sadly was missing in the second movie. The score was a complete reuse of the score from the first film. I admit the original score was amazing, but it relied way too much on it. There was not even one new theme, and while it's okay to repurpose music from the first movie, it stripped a lot of essence away from this movie, and it felt like it was attempting to recreate certain emotions by only using the original score. The cinematography was quite boring, and a few shots were even pretty awful to look at. Certain dialogue scenes were shot in ways where the frame composition felt lopsided and filled with weird empty space that felt uneven. --- The Second Movie's Successes: Lucius' character was great, in my opinion. A fear I had was that he was going to be a bland copy-paste of Maximus, but he successfully managed to be his own character-a way more in-your-face, verbal version of Maximus with a great deal of depth. I enjoyed seeing him open his mouth and say these very aggressive things during moments where Maximus would have remained quiet. He definitely managed to be his own character with his own faults and attributes. The action scenes were executed a lot better-no more shaky visuals and no more awkward cuts when anything gory happened. And also gone is the choppy, slowed-down footage from the first movie. The main conflict and story felt like a very valid continuation of the first film. It made perfect sense for Lucius to be the next main character, and the very broad strokes of the narrative-the bones-were definitely strong enough to get invested in. There was definitely heart in the relationship between Lucius and his mother. I enjoyed the weight of a long-lost son, who had completely changed since he was a kid, hesitantly reconnecting with his mother. The doctor was a great character. Yes, he was very nice and not fleshed out as much as I would have liked, but there was still enough substance to his personality, and he felt like one of the few genuinely kind-hearted people in the movie. It was really satisfying to see him do as Lucius said, calling the troops and releasing him from his cell, as the bond between the two felt very believable. Although the doctor definitely did trust Lucius a little too quickly. It's a very basic 6/10. It didn't feel like a waste of time. But it definitely lacks a great deal of the careful writing present in the first film. Chris, u went too easy on this one.
Best review i've read so far, i share your same thoughts! The action sequences and the fights were so good, loved Paul Mescal character, Denzel amazing as usual, the plot was good even though it's execution failed a bit, the characters did not have their proper development IMO. I think that in the end there were more things that I enjoyed in this sequel than those that I didn’t, but indeed had it's flaws.
Seeing a lot of people talking shit about Chris' opinion as if he should just follow what the "majority" thinks about. He has stated in the past that he would review movies with a more optimistic view and only the ones that he liked or wanted to talk about. I think a lot of you guys are just too deep into the hateful reviews that youtube has pushed over the years. You can enjoy a movie or two without thinking if sharks ruin it or not (not particularly a fan of it myself, but I enjoyed the movie as a whole) Let chris speak his mind however he wants, because its HIS opinion, not yours. You can desagree, of course, in a healthy way instead of a toxic one.
I would totally agree with this point if the review was articulated well enough. Most of the opinion he had was "it's good cause it was good," and that's not exactly the job of a reviewer. Reviewers exist to help the consumer make choices and to spark discussion about works of art. There was no passion behind this overly positive review that mostly ignores huge inconsistencies in the narrative. Also, the better help ad was a bad move.
Amen to this. If you take a look and a lot of top reviewers on TH-cam , critical drinker, nerdtronic ect most of their videos are negative and generate traffic. People are more cynical now
@@demejiuk5660 Those are fine... huge sharks on the other hand?? How do you transport them across land? How do you fill the Colisseum with salt water?? Not fresh water they could get through the aqueducts?? And yeah, there were naval fights in the Colisseum, but the water was most likely very VERY shallow and the ships on wheels... otherwise the basement floors would have flooded. Anyway, the least of the problems.
Yet another review that Chris Stuckman is avoiding any real criticism. The closest thing to a real criticism is "some people might say this" or "some people will say that".
I've never seen the first movie, so I can't judge it, but I realy liked the sequel. The only thing I thougt was realy stupid were the sharks. How the f did they get the sharks, all the way from the ocean to the collosseum?? They are fish! They can't breath air! How the hell did they transported them? They didn't had tanks back then! And they could've easily solved this by switching the sharks with crocodiles. Crocodiles are reptiles and therefore breath air. They can survive on land and being transported in boxes. I know it's a historical fact that they actually could floaded the collosseum and they did had water-battles back then. But I highly doubt that they had sharks in the water. Otherwise, great movie. (Sorry for my bad english.)
This movie made me laugh in the theater😂 I could tell someone felt they were making an epic but forgot to make it epic. I have so many gripes😂 Most importantly- why would anyone follow that man? They gave us nothing, by the end I wanted everyone to die
He's doing this to get his directorial career off the ground. Actually critiquing the work of others will make him enemies. I get the rationale but he ends up abandoning his core fanbase
sooo true , once people become popular they play safe, his reviews became very boring and not interesting. i would rather hear something i disagree with but at least i can see that the person is speaking from his heart . p.s. that is why Roger Ebert will always be my fav movie critic
This is such a shitty take and it’s on every stuckmann review. How hard is it to understand that a guy who is now making films, doesn’t want his main job to be constantly shitting on others work. Being a “reviewer” is already a lame ass job. You constantly judge others work while not making anything yourself or ever having to prove any credentials. The man had a change of perspective once he actually got real experience making films and decided to stop pumping negativity into film discussion. The reviews still point out what is well done in every movie which is really the most important part. There’s also about 10,000 + movie review channels that are also on TH-cam you can watch. Stop fucking complaining that the endless free content this man provides isn’t exactly what you want it to be.
Ridley Scott one of the only directors using the r rating in a movie in a way that seems worth it, he also utilized current VFX the right way, achieving gore that is better than the only practical methods of the past, he also understands when to use CGI. The scale of the sets and the amount of extras he uses really ground the rest of the effects.
I don't think Gladiator II is anywhere as good as the first movie. Or even one of Ridley Scott's best. But there was ONE set piece in the Colosseum that made me go "That is SO cool," so it's nice to see Scott knows how to make cool action in his 80s.
Guys you gotta remember that this was a very edited version of the film. The Final Cut was 4-6 hours long, hell they even edited out an ENTIRE character from the film. Keep that in mind. I hope they release a director’s cut because there are just so many blank spaces left to be filled. The editing was a bit choppy, some scenes didn’t finish when the next one started to play; there wasn’t breathing room.
@@stevemuzak8526 it definitely wasnt. I went into this movie not seeing any trailers, or reading any reviews, knowing damn well i absolutely love the first Gladiator and i came out of the theater satisfied. No, it definitely wasnt the greatest movie ive ever watched, nor was it as good as the first film, but it definitely was fun. Closed-minded takes by people who think they’re cinema geniuses is the most basic bitch shit on the internet. Seriously, im shocked people are so butthurt over a sequel. No doubt the studios probably wanted a quick cash grab, but at least they made something that was actually pretty good.
With Nolan announcing "The Odyssey" as his next project, we'll soon see if Sir Ridley is still running circles around all others in the grand, epic filmmaking sphere. I know who my money would be on.
Its honestly an indictment on his role as a reviewer. The first one is literally my favorite film of all time. For him to admit hes only seen it twice is insane.
I loved this movie! Glad to see such a favorable review that mirrored a lot of opinions. There’s a lot of mediocre reviews from critics so it’s nice to see a review that mirrors my very positive opinions of it.
I usually see your reviews before I decide on seeing a movie - however I didn’t with this one because of the sentiment over the first and many people not taking it for what it is - I can understand the critics and their issues, but going into it without any expectations or wanting it to be bad or even good or compare it with the first - as well as not reading everything about it made it a much more enjoyable experience. Gladiator will always hold a special place in my heart and this movie cannot replace it. However, I definitely enjoyed this movie, glad I saw it in theaters, it looked beautiful and yes there are some hole and some thing a little disjointed but for what it is, I would watch again.
After watching Gladiator 2, we realized after Lucilla's admission to Lucius that Maximus cheated on his wife to sire him with her - that Maximus's famous dialogue in the original should've rather been: “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius (while banging his daughter). Deadbeat father to a murdered son, cheating husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next” So much for Maximus's "strength and honor" from the first film. Denzel Washington meanwhile replayed Alonzo Harris from Training Day as Macrinus in ancient Rome. The story in Gladiator 2 is crap and just an overCGIed rehash of the original.
Denzel stole the show, as he normally does. Mescal was good, he’s no Russell Crowe, but he played his part as the action lead very well. Don’t understand some people’s harsh criticisms of the movie, yes the emperors were meant to seem incompetent and childish because they were, that’s kinda the point. And if you’re going to complain about Denzel’s “accent”, then you should be upset with literally every actors accent.
Chris says it's good, Jeremy Jahns says it's okay, and the girl from beyond the trailer says it terrible. I tend to believe Chris over all. We have very similar taste is movies. I think I'll enjoy this film.
The public cannot trust Chris' opinion anymore, hence the low views 😢 Especially if it is a director he reveres, Chris is not going to be transparent in his reviews.
Movies are very subjective, I've discovered that if they have more than 7.5 or 8 on IMDb, most probably it's good, 6.5 to 7 is ok but forgettable and lower than that won't be enough to pay the ticket
Yes! Thank you for being a good reviewer of movies! I can’t take people criticizing this movie seriously, it was fantastic.. CGI was not great in a few scenes, but other than that, it was an extremely well made movie.. After watching this film, my only guess for the “critics@ is that they consist of People want to hate it because that’s the internet told them to think, or they’re butt hurt a sequel was made at all, or they can’t separate historical accuracy from entertainment
Currently exploring (and enjoying) 1950's Japanese cinema including Tokyo Story (1953) and The Human Condition Trilogy. Also just finished and enjoyed The Third Man (1949). I thought Gladiator II was good.
I really felt Denzel was a complete miscast for this movie. Fantastic actor but just not for this role. This movie was pretty good but had a lot of flaws… more or less the same plot of the first movie, cartoonish villains, baboon cgi, rushed plot at times and characters you don’t really care about.
I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong. But the motivations in the third act seemed quite rushed. That conversation between the two male main characters reminded me of the Martha conversation between Batman and Superman. Those who watched Gladiator II will know which conversation I'm referring to.
People blame Chris for being too safe and afraid to say anything critical. Yet Chris is saying he doesn't rate the first "Gladiator" as high as a very large number of people do:) Despite him focusing on the positive things he has outlined for himself in terms of film making and trends in big studio movies, I still don't see this review proclaiming the sequel is great, so I don't know why people are so upset he's not just bashing the movie (most everyone expected to be mediocre at best either way). P.S. Or maybe I'm wrong and we have a production podcast with Riddley Scott coming out next, but then I'll listen to it gladly:)
I just saw it. I thought it was pretty good, maybe a B+ movie. Denzel and his character were great, with one exception. The fights were great. The emperors were kind of meh and the plot maybe had a little too much going on. Spoilers: The ending was bad and rushed. Why would denzels character who is presumably controlling the army leave them behind to run towards Acacius's army, and why wouldn't he have then stop lucius. And he thought he was going to beat a gladiator champion in a swordfight!? It felt to me like they realized for length and budget reasons there couldn't be a massive fight between the armies at the end so they just chose the most expedient way to end the movie.
It’s got big boots, sorry, sandals to fill. If you like epic historical films, Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven (must be the directors cut though, which is infinitely better than the theatrical) is up there
I watched the first one for the first time last Sunday and then I watched the second on Wednesday. I enjoyed both and I’d give them about the same rating. 7/10
Glad to see Ridley Scott didn't try to push his boots with gladiator. Alien he can get away with being a smart story and slow paced but something like Gladiator. I'm glad to see Ridley just made something entertaining
The big difference between the 2 movies, to me, is the feeling you end up at the end. In Gladiator, at the end, I was really moved. In Gladiator II I was "yeah, whatever..." Bonus point: If you are an european like me with some knowledge about the Roman Empire, the threshold for the suspension of disbelief is way higher. Gladiator I also had its problems with historical accuracy but it was so good that I didn't care. The second one do not really past my test. PD: Denzel Washington was great (as always).
At 86 Ridley Scott has directed an epic and is running rings around every director in the business...his only universally acclaimed film in the last decade was The Martian. I really like the Last Duel but one success out of 6 with 6 other flops/duds following his previous major success (American Gangster) is hardly running rings...
I'm thankful you mentioned you're not a huge fan of the original. I am. I actually think it's the greatest achievement in modern cinema. So I'm skeptical to see II out of fear it will tarnish the original.
If you're a huge fan of the first one, you'll definitely feel like something's missing. I'm not going into detail, but it'll feel like most sequels out there: too big of a shoe to fill
I know it's a Hollywood movie, but the historical innacuracy really took me out of it. There are TOO MANY anachronisms to count. And I get it, it's not really the point of the movie, but some things were so easily avoidable (the actress wearing a corset? In ancient rome?) !
I used to go to your channel all the time before going to see a movie, like a little ritual to myself. Sadly I don't think I relate to your videos anymore. I'm sad to see shorter videos with a lot of gushing over Hollywood and the scale/looks of movies. Where's the complex character analysis, the articulate, cinema-lover discourse that you used to have? I'll still support your works and your channel because you work hard and I know you're passionate, but I'm a bit disapointed honestly. :(
I liked the first Gladiator film a lot. To me it was a "complete" movie, so I was not so keen on a sequel. Nevertheless I was curious to watch the trailers and to hear about the storyline. Gladiator II indeed seems to be bigger, bolder and even more action packed than the original film. But sharks in the Colosseum? A gladiator riding a rhino? Agreed, it's entertainment and not a history lesson, but scenes like that throw this film in the SF/Fantasy realm while pretending to be about the Roman Empire. Too much is too much. Count me out.
I've just seen it at the cinema. I thought it was awful. Far too many glaring plot holes and the baboons and sharks looked straight from a budget sci fi film
The movie opens with the conquest od Numidia, which happened more than 200 years before Caracal and Geta.. It's like showing the american declaration of independence taking place in the 20th century
Pedro and Denzel stole the show. When Pascal claimed Numidia for Rome, you could tell right there he was struggling with the pressures put upon him. Excellent performace.
I went into this movie blind not watching any trailers or reading any reviews and genuinely had a great time. As someone who really loves the original Gladiator, this film pleasantly surprised me. It was by no means a perfect film, but it was absolutely worth my time. I will admit, i was a bit disappointed with the ending and how it felt sort of tacked together, but other than that 90% of the movie was quite the spectacle. The characters were good, the action was great, and generally for the most part it was just good movie. The harsh reality of it all is the shocking amount of harsh criticism the film’s receiving because of the fact its a sequel to understandably one of the most beloved films of the 21st century. A fair amount of the criticism ive seen is justified, but a lot of it seems like pure boomer hate. I have no doubt in my mind the studios wanted a nice pay check, and many parts of the film seem copy and paste from the original. There were references that were very on the nose, but i had absolutely no problem with that. In my opinion, this seems like a decently made love letter to the first film. By no means is it better, but was definitely a great watch.
The movie should had came out around the late 2000s(between the final destination/paranormal activity days). It was a cool movie concept but you feel like you already know what they plan to do with the concept and then they hit you with an ending that felt out of nowhere(like some kingdom of the crystals type of pazaz) 6.9/10
Hey Stuckmann… what part of the movie did you like best. Chris: oh it’s so hard to pick. Quite literally, the very next thing that happened in the film was my all time favorite…. Until the very NEXT thing happened!
Gladiator 1 is like Terminator 2 for me. It all ended with those movies. Granted, I might catch this one eventually on a rental sale, but I really have zero interest to revisit this. I feel like Gladiator had the perfect ending to an incredible movie. There is no reason to come up with something just to justify a sequel, even 24 years later. There is a reason every Terminator movie after 2 has been horrendous. It's what happens when studios request a movie to be made just to bank coin and not really put that much effort in the grand scheme.
Gladiator 1 was based on the works of David Franzoni, who pitched to Steven Spielberg, sparked the interest of DreamWorks Pictures, they bought it and re-wrote multiple times with the talents of those days before hiring Ridley Scott to direct the movie. Gladiator 2 was pitched by Ridley... and the rest is history.
Better help is a scam. Stop Chris!
No they aren't
No one cares
Everyone's been screaming this for the last few years at him but he's never gonna stop. I don't get it. I know we all need to pay bills but there has got to be other sponsors out there on YT
Evidently he’s getting something out of the sponsorship
Why is better help a scam?
I’m genuinely shocked you had so many positive things to say about this movie.
There are a ton of things to hate on this film. The worst being the Denzel character running out of the Colisseum after finally getting what he'd been working for in the whole film: to overtake the empire. Then what does he do next? He leaves what is possibly the safest more guarded position of the empire on a horse outside the stadium, exposing himself and leaving with just him, his sword, and a horse. Like WTFFFFFF lol. And then the movie just ended so abruptly, as with almost every scene in this horrible film, we don't even see Lucius do anything with the victory and instead cuts away to the credits. HAHAHA . This movie was atrocious. I didn't even know that was Lucius from the first film, either...like isn't the original actor still acting?? Why'd they get some Russell Crowe Temu version lol, the dude had zero charisma and just looked generic the entire film. What a load of crap this film was, so disappointed.
If you’re shocked he had positive things to say about about movie you’ve been living under a rock since 2020
@@aaadesktop yeah no offense to the actors themselves, but it's rare that a film has so many complaints about acting...when there are, you know that it was legitimately bad acting
Also a black guy in a Rome (as rich person... At past time...why?) it's already looks like fantastic
@user-andrew89 ya not being racist at all, we all know Denzel is a legend. But this casting choice felt crazy forced. And if they wanted to do it to explore the whole "slave to riches" storyline they alluded to, they didn't do nearly enough to build that out
1:41 the review for this movie starts in this time stamp
honestly I'll just stop watching, this is ridiculous
thankyou
Thanks hero
I was about to say the same! Wow Chris really has sold out. Embarrassing
Sad states of affairs that one has to point this out.
You will better help us by not advertising for them!
We said that dozens of times alread yet he doesn't give a fuck about our opinion while we should be okay with his...
What's wrong with better help?
@@krabben135 You're better off with another help.
You guys have a victim mentality and don't actually use critical thinking at all
@@christophermd216 lmaoo rich coming from a blind religious nut case
BetterHelp agreed to pay $7.8 million to settle the FTC's charges, first announced in March 2023, that it used and revealed sensitive consumer data-specifically email addresses, IP addresses, and answers to personal health questions-for advertising purposes.
This is not in support of any particular economy at all....but probably every company you can think of has been fined and leaked customer data. If it is important to you we should be fighting for better privacy protection laws in the US like other countries have.
@ yeah but it’s beyond disgusting when a company gets to know your biggest pains, mental issues and traumas and sell that knowledge to companies using your weakest points in life to make money on it. That’s beyond evil.
haha this BetterHelp or else I'm gona kill myself 😂
@@sa.t.2507no, it’s not evil. it’s data. It’s not like they’re leaking your social security numbers my god.
Just seen it and I wholly disagree with you. The story was all over the place, with no real protagonists, no real villains, no real goals. They tried to do several things at once and it totally messed up the pacing and all character arcs fell short, which made it feel like being too short and too long at the same time. The action was good, the cast's acting was good, but apart from that the movie just wasn't good.
Amen.
It was NOT good. I don't even take Chris's reviews seriously anymore, he caters to powerful people in the industry. I've already unsubscribed, I was just bored and wanted to hear other's thoughts on the film.
I agree thid movie sucks I'm so disappointed
I wasn’t mad about it and with no trailer spoilers, I didn’t think it would actually tie in so much to the first. With that said, it’s interesting to watch these directors get worse over time somehow, when they should be honing in and getting better. Maybe age, covid, and whatever workforce they have to work with has to do with it??
EXACTLY
Sorry Chris but after watching your reviews for nearly a decade this is your worst take on a film ive seen
the film was terrible, people were laughing out loud in the cinema.
Agreed, this movie is trash
That’s because Chris is a shill….
@@pigeonboy7102 "terrible"? its a good movie, its just not as good as the first.
Same- love Chris’s reviews but what a WASTE of acting talent. The writing was garbage, I literally didn’t care about any of the characters. The action set pieces were basically drawings I made in crayon when I was 7. I think Chris’s “not criticizing film makers” has turned into the movie version of “he beats me, but he always says sorry.” 🤦🏽♂️
Ridley Scott is perpetually 55 in my brain. Hearing that he’s 86 was jarring. Excited to see this
he's still going strong, it's inspiring for sure. Nothing can stop him.
@@thiscorrosion900he’s sharper than Joe Biden
@@thiscorrosion900till he’s 90 rings a bit too true for him
Then your quibbling over semantics moron. People don't watch movies to criticise the reviewer, they watch movies to criticise the film. And if the review isn't descriptive enough for you. Then go see it and judge for yourself. Thats the point of the question, genious.
@@thiscorrosion900 Nothing can stop him...except time.
It's all about Hans Zimmer with the first one
Yes love Hansi ❤️
Agreed!
Maybe, but there were other strengths in that film, beyond Hans Zimmer's amazing score.
@@herbsuperb6034 Yet watching the second movie, by far the best scenes are the ones that feature his music.
@@herbsuperb6034I only remember the music.
Can’t wait for saving private Ryan 2 !
Russia defeated Nazi Germany.
@@eazymethod01troll
That was directed by Spielberg lol unless I'm missing something ?
@ congratulations ! you missed the point !
Earn this
Saw it today. Was way better than I expected. My son and I liked it a lot.
Bro. The studios bought out Chris Stuckmann.
They didn't. You just disagree with him. Stop with the conspiracies.
@@dtanobo pretty much everyone disagrees with him on this one tho
@@ronan.pellen is 'pretty much everyone' just people in your internet bubble? I believe the answer to that is yes. This isn't a universally disliked movie.
@@dtanobo not disliked but pretty much everyone was left disappointed at least...
Long time also. Don't know why ppl don't boycott his nonsense I can't stand him
The original is so nostalgic to me, one of my favorites. 😊
The problem with Chris is that he likes every movie. Including ones that are obviously bad to everyone else.
I was like .. did we watch the same movie 😂😂😂
It's called an opinion lol. I liked the movie too
Ikr, this was mid as fuck
Agreed it was a terrible movie... it was bland and had absolutely nothing to add to the original, plus Denzel was on his trainning day MO... it was awful...
@@channelZER01people who try to dismiss peoples opinion on someone else’s opinion is a dumb opinion because everything being said is an opinion therefore your opinion about his opinion about Chris’ opinion being wrong because he likes all movies is pointless.
Chris, we obviously did not see the same film. This review shocked me.
Ridley Scott has to be on the Mt. Rushmore of filmmakers for not only creating some of the most influential films ever, but to still be this strong at this age, and this consistent.
Note: I prefer Cameron as a filmmaker, but Scott is fantastic. You think of those two with someone like Spielberg and Kubrick. Hitchcock too. That has to be the 5 most influential imo.
@@TheProphegyprobably like 15 years ago but nowadays he’s been very inconsistent. Im glad Gladiator 2 is good though.
@ I just mean consistently putting out well made films still is crazy. It’s a team effort too though. The last film of his I really enjoyed was The Last Duel. Solid film.
No. Tarantino, Spielberg, Scorsese, Kubrick. Ridley Scott, while the director of some of my favorite movies, has been pretty inconsistent. It's hit-or-miss.
@ Scorsese, I agree, I don’t know how I forgot him. I’m a massive Tarantino fan but Cameron >>>
I think this is the first time I felt Chris got paid to promote.
Terrible take. Gladiator II is rubbish. Story was incoherent and full of holes or unreasonable events. No back story given to the main villains and those emperors were so pathetically weak in character that I was surprised anyone with a sword put up with them for 5 mins if they were real people. I was yawning non stop half way into the movie. You don't get any connection to the main character and he doesn't earn his respect like Maximas does in the original - just starts randomly leading. His ending speech was completely uninspiring, the resolution to the tension between him and his mum came out of nowhere with no explanation, the final fight is meh, the cgi animals are horrible and finally the music is completely forgettable. How can you even think of praising this movie?
@@alexChook exactly
Relax you troll, he likes the movie. Its his opinion, just let him be
I really wanted this movie to be good, but i share you exact sentiment, plus the dialogue was bordering on cringe at times. I feel like this should've been stretched into a miniseries with explanation of characters and some build up.
@@ericyabadabadoo lol interesting how you think this only apply to me commenting on his opinion but not to you commenting on my opinion...
@@ericyabadabadoobro is doing tricks on it 🤡
You can't beat that first movie. You just can't. Especially the amazing soundtrack.
The second movie don't have to beat the first movie to be a good movie on its own... we already know the first one is a masterpiece to begin with bruh
But it in my opinion it needed to be more to exist, because there was no reason for it to exist.
yes you can lol
the 2nd movie is good. That's all I got to say
That’s what they said about the matrix and terminator 1 now in the future everyone likes the sequels and let’s not mention aliens too
Just checking in. Are yall still pretending bad movies dont exist over here?
Yup, just confirmed it myself
@flonoiisana4647 Nah. He's alright. You're just an asshole. You want to watch a reviewer who tears one every movie you don't like? There are plenty of reviewers like that. Just go watch those.
he said he won't present any more bad films. apparently he still needs content to upload
Do you watch movie reviews just to have your opinion confirmed by someone else?
I think the dude is trolling us by now. He sounds so robotic and fake. I haven't watched any of his videos in YEARS since that video of him telling us about his preference identity. I couldn't care less. Now... He's not even the shadow of himself, just a robot programmed to praise Hollywood. And he's either really bad at it or just trolling us. lol
Chris has completely lost it. He used to be so fresh, honest and entertaining with his reviews.. it’s sad to see his change to a Yes man of Hollywood.
I agree. Think he’s getting g pay checks for positivity
Gladiator 2 sucked. The main actor is rubbish because he is so weak, not a leader of men and has zero charisma. Densel Washington is a great actor, but spoke with an American accent as if he was in a cop movie, it was never going to work. The two Roman leaders were childish and ridiculous. Nothing made sense it was embarrassing. I was looking at my watch halfway through, and already going to IMDb to read reviews because they were more interesting than the film.
Why can’t we have decent actors anymore and stop with the woke nonsense.
Gladiator 2 was a remake pretending not to be remake, it absolutely bored me from about 5 minutes in because nothing hung together and the casting was shite. My local amateur dramatics society does better casting than Hollyweird these days.
@@hamwhackerHarsh commentary. I thought it felt a lot like the first one and the new actors surprised me. I didn’t expect much out of this film walking in only for Denzel to tell the truth. It impressed me as a meaningful sequel to mark the end of the downfall of the brutal Roman Empire’s disgusting inhumane Colloseum shenanigans.
I'm never impressed by his script for these reviews. I feel that he has good taste and understanding of what makes art great, but his writing skills aren't as honed.
I loved Gladiator 2, the movie was good. The lead didn't have a lot of charisma but the story was well written and Denzel was amazing.
Ridley turns 87 this month by the way.
shows with the quality of his movies turning to a pile of Alzheimer's and shit
@@guneytopal7076 He could direct a better movie with Alzheimers than a young punk like you with ADHD or Autism.
Giving Ridley credit for energy of the movie when he's not acting in it is odd.
The release timescale of Chris's shit movie will also exceed 87 years too.
Hasn't made a good movie since the Martian. Feels like he's doing like Clint eastwood just pumping them out faster as he ages he delegating all the work which makes decent but not great products.
2000 / People watch Gladiator and go home with their own opinions.
2024 / People watch Gladiator and go home and watch TH-cam reviews, scroll social media for unconscious biases, and have it out in comment sections.
Lol,
So true!
ya but at least in part one, they were good opinions. and the movie was stellar. This sequel was pointless, choppy, and made zero sense.
exactly. people need to enjoy what they want. stop being influenced by these idiot video essayist like the critical drinker who contribute nothing but being an edgelord full of misery.
Despite its good or bad, Denzel Washington is gonna be the best part of the movie, he looks so badass as the bad guy
He is not the bad guy, Pedro Pascal and the Twin emperor are smh
Denzel Washington is the mentor of the main protagonist in the movie
@@Sssaid17 Denzel, Washington from the trailer seems to be a mix of both, I think he’s going to be more of an antihero type character
"My man!!"
No one watches something called Gladiator set in Ancient Rome to see Denzel Washington
@@Sssaid17 wrong, denzel is the bad guy
Better Help is a dangerous and misleading product/service. Also, does anyone know that guy who made the Stuckmann cartoon thing still going? Lol that guy was awesome.
Nah, Better Help's gotten better. I think there's testimony for TH-camrs on Reddit who did some research and say they feel safe doing ads for them now.
@@andrewmathewson341 thank god the people financially incentivized to like them like them
@@andrewmathewson341 Oh well, as long as the people who are getting paid to hock it to consumers approve, then I guess it’s okay…..
I really hope Villeneuve gets to make Cleopatra as intended, that will be an epic!
That would be incredible!
Hatshepsut will be more interesting, the female faraón 👸🏻
@ nah, Cleopatra involves Julius Ceasar, Augustus, Marcus Antonius, Agrippa, the two civil wars of rome, battle of Actium +++ One of the most eventful periods in history that changed the world forever.
“Husband to a murdered wife…Father to a murdered son…”-Maximus Decimus Meridius
He has another son
" And i shall have my vengeance, in this life or the next."
And a war general probably responsible for a lot of other people's tragedies. For the glory of Rome... That's my main problem with the first film, even though the character acknowledges this himself, but we as audience tend to ignore it. Because the movie is that good.
What's with the ads before the reviews? I've been away for a while. Every big reviewer is doing this.
Hollywood has Chris by the balls when it comes to honest film criticism like he used to give.
My exact same thoughts
Yea that’s why Jeremy undefeated
At this point, I think he's trolling. LOLOL You couldn't sound any more fake if you tried.
@@icemann1419 I mean, Jeremy also liked this movie.
@@icemann1419lol Jeremy also liked this movie, dum dum.
How are you not a fan of the original Gladiator?? Mind boggling
Yeah so odd to me
He literally said he really likes it.
Honestly I never understood the hype around that movie...it's just some bland movie to me to the point I like Troy better (and I find Troy bland too).it's not that epic..maybe it's just me🤷🏿♂️
The soundtrack alone 🔥
@@wambokodavid7109 it’s you.
I like Gladiator II. Went to see it with my dad and brother. A worthy successor to the first film, which is a rarity of a sequel.
video stars at 01:40
Thank you!
bruh. respect. how do yhou think the bills get paid. smh
@@Reelcargo I dont think a guy with 2 million subs is struggling with the bills , get a grip
@ I don’t think you know how this works. Do some research.
Thanks brotha!
What’s up with all the damn negativity in the comments!? Sweet baby Alien, you “movie goers” only see movies, yall don’t WATCH them. I LOVED IT. Especially for a period piece (fictional but I digress). It’s very well put together. The editing was great, the set pieces, and the sound design was honestly great! Y’all talk about “go touch grass”… why don’t YOU go touch ch grass!?… Gladiator II was a great concept and continuation and I’ll leave it at that… FOH 😤
People keep saying the story is predictable. But I actually didn't predict Denzel Washington to be the final villain at the climax.
Nobody really KNEW what to expect from Denzel's character.
Glad I didn't cheat.
How would they have captured and kept the sharks alive until the water battles?
Films aren’t real mate. It’s easy to break the suspension of disbelief just got to go with it.
@@rtleesontrue, but historical accuracy allows for credibility. The colosseum was flooded but no sharks. Do you think if they included a few dragons, it would have made for a better movie.
@ it’s not meant to be historically accurate, neither was Gladiator 1
@ true again, but if they gave the romans guns, it would have been a stretch.
How the hell did the romans read newspapers? That was the more stupid scene than the shark scene.
I thought you were being sarcastic when you started the review. Glad you enjoyed the movie, man 😂😂😂
“Are you not entertained!?”
Audience: NO!!!!!
Gladiator II is a failure
I loved it. Had so much fun. The only bit I thought was not great was Paul's acting a bit.
@@nathanborger6551 The Baboon fight is when I clocked out for a while and was like HUH? the VFX was laughably bad and then Denzel sucked me back in
I was.
I was very much entertained
Nice new lighting set up Chris. Looking pretty cinematic
Looks like he put a bright yellow light in the right side of his
The movie was not bad. But I think this review was too nice to the movie.
The First Movie:
The first movie was a very well-executed epic with great story beats and a plot that is grounded in reality and sets up characters and their motivations very well. I wasn't crazy about it, but it's a good 8/10 movie with minor problems like Commodus being way too evil and not having his own motivations to rule Rome except for being evil and insecure, or the fact that the romance between Maximus and Aurelius' daughter was very forced and unnecessary.
Beyond that, the movie had a great narrative that legitimately made you worry about what happens next. It had great suspenseful moments like when Commodus realized who the Gladiator was or when Maximus had to fight Commodus with an unfair stab to his chest before the fight. Those were incredibly great moments.
---
The Second Movie's Problems:
I enjoyed the second movie thoroughly, but there are certain things like the unbearable number of characters and the failure to flesh these characters out well enough that brought the movie down for me.
Pedro Pascal's character was like a copy-paste of Russell Crowe, and it felt like his entire arc could have been replaced by Lucius' own mother, as the conflict between the two was basically identical to the conflict between Lucius and his mom. I would not be surprised if the execs wanted a famous face to stamp on the posters and wrote a character just for Pascal.
The two brothers were by far the worst part of the movie. They were described as evil and corrupt rulers of Rome, but it was never shown in the movie itself. They mostly behaved like edgy, pretentious stoners in their late teens who love to watch gore, and any motivation beyond that was completely missing. The monkey that one of the two had was an incredibly weird attempt at comedy, and it felt out of place.
Lucius' motivations were flown over at a rapid pace. He had a wife who was killed in battle, and the bond they had was not conveyed well enough. In the first movie, the bond was conveyed through Maximus' insatiable need to see his family. He was in huge mental distress at the thought of not seeing his family, and the build-up to him losing his wife and child took the time it needed to. It happens around the 40-minute mark in the first movie. Lucius lost his wife within the first 5 minutes of the movie, and he pretty much forgets her in order to replace his motivations for his seething hate of Rome.
His "power" wasn't set up as well as Maximus'. The first movie took a great deal of time to prepare how strong and intelligent Maximus was, and you feel that during the fights. Lucius, on the other hand, was exactly like Maximus in battle strength and intelligence, but there was no real reason why he would be so triumphant.
Denzel Washington's character was underwhelming. The way he moved the chess pieces in the narrative was not conveyed well enough, and his intentions weren't clear, in a way that made him look more like a loose cannon and less like a mysterious mastermind. He did have a pretty impeccable smile, though.
The movie attempted to have these very strong story beats similar to what I mentioned about the first movie, where you genuinely feel for the consequences of what is happening, like the moment when Lucius meets Pedro Pascal's character, but these moments lacked a lot of weight. The stakes felt less important because they weren't treated with the same thoughtfulness and patience for the narrative.
The final showdown was incredibly weak compared to the first one, which was very unexpected considering the fact that most of the action scenes were a big improvement from the first movie.
There wasn't a huge presence of conflict between Lucius and Denzel Washington's character. Yes, it was the good guy vs. the corrupt guy, but the interpersonal weight of why Lucius was fighting this guy just was not there.
In general, the relationship between these two characters was incredibly weak. It was the classic good man vs. bad man and not much beyond that.
The movie even does this extremely weird thing at the end, where it teases you with this MASSIVE amount of soldiers ready to fight against each other, and it purposely does not deliver, which would have been okay if the final showdown wasn't such a wet towel of a fight.
The small moments, like when Maximus put down his sword when Commodus pretended to not have one anymore, only to pull out a hidden dagger from his chest piece, added SO MUCH to the interpersonal conflict within the action scenes that sadly was missing in the second movie.
The score was a complete reuse of the score from the first film. I admit the original score was amazing, but it relied way too much on it. There was not even one new theme, and while it's okay to repurpose music from the first movie, it stripped a lot of essence away from this movie, and it felt like it was attempting to recreate certain emotions by only using the original score.
The cinematography was quite boring, and a few shots were even pretty awful to look at. Certain dialogue scenes were shot in ways where the frame composition felt lopsided and filled with weird empty space that felt uneven.
---
The Second Movie's Successes:
Lucius' character was great, in my opinion. A fear I had was that he was going to be a bland copy-paste of Maximus, but he successfully managed to be his own character-a way more in-your-face, verbal version of Maximus with a great deal of depth. I enjoyed seeing him open his mouth and say these very aggressive things during moments where Maximus would have remained quiet. He definitely managed to be his own character with his own faults and attributes.
The action scenes were executed a lot better-no more shaky visuals and no more awkward cuts when anything gory happened. And also gone is the choppy, slowed-down footage from the first movie.
The main conflict and story felt like a very valid continuation of the first film. It made perfect sense for Lucius to be the next main character, and the very broad strokes of the narrative-the bones-were definitely strong enough to get invested in.
There was definitely heart in the relationship between Lucius and his mother. I enjoyed the weight of a long-lost son, who had completely changed since he was a kid, hesitantly reconnecting with his mother.
The doctor was a great character. Yes, he was very nice and not fleshed out as much as I would have liked, but there was still enough substance to his personality, and he felt like one of the few genuinely kind-hearted people in the movie. It was really satisfying to see him do as Lucius said, calling the troops and releasing him from his cell, as the bond between the two felt very believable. Although the doctor definitely did trust Lucius a little too quickly.
It's a very basic 6/10. It didn't feel like a waste of time. But it definitely lacks a great deal of the careful writing present in the first film.
Chris, u went too easy on this one.
I'm not sure how to feel about this random massive block of text from being the movie's best review I've seen
So... thank you?
@Watch-Yisus writting massive youtube comments is like my favorite pass time. It's good writing exercise and it's fun. Thank u too!
Finally a honest review that gives the film its flowers but also recognizes where it has its flaws. Thank you for this review! I enjoyed it!
@marylou2668 thanks!
Best review i've read so far, i share your same thoughts! The action sequences and the fights were so good, loved Paul Mescal character, Denzel amazing as usual, the plot was good even though it's execution failed a bit, the characters did not have their proper development IMO. I think that in the end there were more things that I enjoyed in this sequel than those that I didn’t, but indeed had it's flaws.
Seeing a lot of people talking shit about Chris' opinion as if he should just follow what the "majority" thinks about. He has stated in the past that he would review movies with a more optimistic view and only the ones that he liked or wanted to talk about. I think a lot of you guys are just too deep into the hateful reviews that youtube has pushed over the years. You can enjoy a movie or two without thinking if sharks ruin it or not (not particularly a fan of it myself, but I enjoyed the movie as a whole) Let chris speak his mind however he wants, because its HIS opinion, not yours. You can desagree, of course, in a healthy way instead of a toxic one.
I would totally agree with this point if the review was articulated well enough. Most of the opinion he had was "it's good cause it was good," and that's not exactly the job of a reviewer.
Reviewers exist to help the consumer make choices and to spark discussion about works of art. There was no passion behind this overly positive review that mostly ignores huge inconsistencies in the narrative.
Also, the better help ad was a bad move.
In 2024 Chris doesn't want to review or be honest with bad movies. This movie is as Mid as it gets. Its not terrible not good. Just mid
It's ok to not agree with Chris. He's not movie Jesus.
Well said.
It's def not the original but I still was *ENTERTAINED*
It was cool to see how everything came.full circle.
Amen to this. If you take a look and a lot of top reviewers on TH-cam , critical drinker, nerdtronic ect most of their videos are negative and generate traffic. People are more cynical now
You need to drop betterhelp for a sponsor
Nah
Why?
Search youtube for BetterHelp Lost 97% In 3 Years
@@mariomario1462literally were sued and paid like a billion dollars out but ok
money is money. get that bag and stop crying
How much are they blackmailing Chris to have him still use BetterHelp as a sponsor.
nothing... just bunch of money. go get that bag chris.
weird take. they don't need to blackmail someone if they just pay them... ??
Holy crap dude, I haven't seen you in years
Blackmailing? How?
When i see a man enter the arena riding a giant rhinoceros, i know this gonna be an action shlock.. love it
*Chris grew up as a Gladiator.*
He was never manly enough for such an honor, more like nanny or caretaker
I can't believe they actually put sharks. That's just so stupid that it's almost insulting.
Baboons?
Rhino?
@@demejiuk5660 Those are fine... huge sharks on the other hand?? How do you transport them across land? How do you fill the Colisseum with salt water?? Not fresh water they could get through the aqueducts?? And yeah, there were naval fights in the Colisseum, but the water was most likely very VERY shallow and the ships on wheels... otherwise the basement floors would have flooded. Anyway, the least of the problems.
@@Bayard1503 i'm not talking about the "how would they have done it?" angle. I just mean how extremlly OTT. And just 🤦♂🤦♂🤦♂
The movie has “jumped the shark”
I think it's a reflection to how ambicious and grandiloquent roman empire was, doesn't take the fact that was incredibly stupid
I'm seeing it with my dad in IMAX opening weekend. I can't wait!
SAME!
Yet another review that Chris Stuckman is avoiding any real criticism. The closest thing to a real criticism is "some people might say this" or "some people will say that".
And here you are watching it 😂
@nizzanator After a long time. One can only hope.
Yep, Stucky is stuck being diplomatic.
I've never seen the first movie, so I can't judge it, but I realy liked the sequel. The only thing I thougt was realy stupid were the sharks. How the f did they get the sharks, all the way from the ocean to the collosseum?? They are fish! They can't breath air! How the hell did they transported them? They didn't had tanks back then! And they could've easily solved this by switching the sharks with crocodiles. Crocodiles are reptiles and therefore breath air. They can survive on land and being transported in boxes. I know it's a historical fact that they actually could floaded the collosseum and they did had water-battles back then. But I highly doubt that they had sharks in the water. Otherwise, great movie.
(Sorry for my bad english.)
Please watch the original movie I beg you!!
This movie made me laugh in the theater😂 I could tell someone felt they were making an epic but forgot to make it epic. I have so many gripes😂 Most importantly- why would anyone follow that man? They gave us nothing, by the end I wanted everyone to die
Chris is such a sellout. All his reviews are so safe and complimentary. What’s the point if him anymore?
he has no point anymore...
He's doing this to get his directorial career off the ground. Actually critiquing the work of others will make him enemies. I get the rationale but he ends up abandoning his core fanbase
Yes, how dare he like something!
sooo true , once people become popular they play safe, his reviews became very boring and not interesting. i would rather hear something i disagree with but at least i can see that the person is speaking from his heart .
p.s. that is why Roger Ebert will always be my fav movie critic
This is such a shitty take and it’s on every stuckmann review. How hard is it to understand that a guy who is now making films, doesn’t want his main job to be constantly shitting on others work. Being a “reviewer” is already a lame ass job. You constantly judge others work while not making anything yourself or ever having to prove any credentials. The man had a change of perspective once he actually got real experience making films and decided to stop pumping negativity into film discussion. The reviews still point out what is well done in every movie which is really the most important part. There’s also about 10,000 + movie review channels that are also on TH-cam you can watch. Stop fucking complaining that the endless free content this man provides isn’t exactly what you want it to be.
Ridley Scott one of the only directors using the r rating in a movie in a way that seems worth it, he also utilized current VFX the right way, achieving gore that is better than the only practical methods of the past, he also understands when to use CGI. The scale of the sets and the amount of extras he uses really ground the rest of the effects.
I don't think Gladiator II is anywhere as good as the first movie. Or even one of Ridley Scott's best. But there was ONE set piece in the Colosseum that made me go "That is SO cool," so it's nice to see Scott knows how to make cool action in his 80s.
You saw it already?
Guys you gotta remember that this was a very edited version of the film. The Final Cut was 4-6 hours long, hell they even edited out an ENTIRE character from the film.
Keep that in mind.
I hope they release a director’s cut because there are just so many blank spaces left to be filled.
The editing was a bit choppy, some scenes didn’t finish when the next one started to play; there wasn’t breathing room.
In a long detailed explanation, he said Gladiator II was the same story as the original 😂😂😂
I've seen this movie, and I can not take this review seriously.
I watched this movie in IMAX in a packed theater, and mostly everyone came out saying how good it was.
It was a horrible movie.
@@stevemuzak8526 it definitely wasnt. I went into this movie not seeing any trailers, or reading any reviews, knowing damn well i absolutely love the first Gladiator and i came out of the theater satisfied. No, it definitely wasnt the greatest movie ive ever watched, nor was it as good as the first film, but it definitely was fun. Closed-minded takes by people who think they’re cinema geniuses is the most basic bitch shit on the internet. Seriously, im shocked people are so butthurt over a sequel. No doubt the studios probably wanted a quick cash grab, but at least they made something that was actually pretty good.
stop lying
With Nolan announcing "The Odyssey" as his next project, we'll soon see if Sir Ridley is still running circles around all others in the grand, epic filmmaking sphere.
I know who my money would be on.
Chris, the guy that's a massive childhood fan of most movies isn't a fan of Gladiator. He gave us a curve ball with this one.
@andrewlaxton50 He literally said he wasn't a big fan of it.
Its honestly an indictment on his role as a reviewer. The first one is literally my favorite film of all time. For him to admit hes only seen it twice is insane.
Not what he said.
I loved this movie! Glad to see such a favorable review that mirrored a lot of opinions. There’s a lot of mediocre reviews from critics so it’s nice to see a review that mirrors my very positive opinions of it.
Gladiator 2 is the Paul-Tyson fight.
😂😂😂
no the movie is good
Gladiator II was a very fascinating watch tonight as a guy who hasn’t seen the original. I’m compelled to dive deeper into Marcus Aurelius now.
Please let this be good
Spoiler, it's not
@@paddy1451Shut up
@@paddy1451Bro, you prolly haven’t even seen it yet so quit that mess
@@paddy1451 yapping
@@paddy1451it opened to good reviews from even sceptical critics
I usually see your reviews before I decide on seeing a movie - however I didn’t with this one because of the sentiment over the first and many people not taking it for what it is - I can understand the critics and their issues, but going into it without any expectations or wanting it to be bad or even good or compare it with the first - as well as not reading everything about it made it a much more enjoyable experience. Gladiator will always hold a special place in my heart and this movie cannot replace it. However, I definitely enjoyed this movie, glad I saw it in theaters, it looked beautiful and yes there are some hole and some thing a little disjointed but for what it is, I would watch again.
Seen it last night in Imax, great movie really enjoyed it, that actor Paul, I would love to see more of him in action movies going forward hopefully
No way. He has a deformed face.
After watching Gladiator 2, we realized after Lucilla's admission to Lucius that Maximus cheated on his wife to sire him with her - that Maximus's famous dialogue in the original should've rather been:
“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius (while banging his daughter).
Deadbeat father to a murdered son, cheating husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next”
So much for Maximus's "strength and honor" from the first film.
Denzel Washington meanwhile replayed Alonzo Harris from Training Day as Macrinus in ancient Rome.
The story in Gladiator 2 is crap and just an overCGIed rehash of the original.
So I should basically unsubscribe because he’s never gonna tell the truth anymore.
Denzel stole the show, as he normally does. Mescal was good, he’s no Russell Crowe, but he played his part as the action lead very well. Don’t understand some people’s harsh criticisms of the movie, yes the emperors were meant to seem incompetent and childish because they were, that’s kinda the point. And if you’re going to complain about Denzel’s “accent”, then you should be upset with literally every actors accent.
Chris says it's good, Jeremy Jahns says it's okay, and the girl from beyond the trailer says it terrible. I tend to believe Chris over all. We have very similar taste is movies. I think I'll enjoy this film.
It's terrible
@manuelpineda9067 😆😆😆😆
I stopped believing Chris since he became a filmmaker and reviews ONLY film he likes.
The public cannot trust Chris' opinion anymore, hence the low views 😢 Especially if it is a director he reveres, Chris is not going to be transparent in his reviews.
Movies are very subjective, I've discovered that if they have more than 7.5 or 8 on IMDb, most probably it's good, 6.5 to 7 is ok but forgettable and lower than that won't be enough to pay the ticket
Please drop BetterHelp!
This video deserves an award!
For what exactly, a long boring commercial, and kissing profusely the behind of the movie director?
@@Befree898 lol stop judging if you haven't watched it. Never judge a book by its cover. Its a good movie, maybe you're too young to understand
@@mistlegion1182 actually hes on the money, Chris is a shill
@@mistlegion1182 how old are you? I'm getting boomer vibes.
Love the new lighting, looks more dramatic
Yes! Thank you for being a good reviewer of movies!
I can’t take people criticizing this movie seriously, it was fantastic.. CGI was not great in a few scenes, but other than that, it was an extremely well made movie..
After watching this film, my only guess for the “critics@ is that they consist of
People want to hate it because that’s the internet told them to think,
or they’re butt hurt a sequel was made at all,
or they can’t separate historical accuracy from entertainment
All 3 of them I believe.
Agreed! I just reviewed it and loved it too!
Currently exploring (and enjoying) 1950's Japanese cinema including Tokyo Story (1953) and The Human Condition Trilogy. Also just finished and enjoyed The Third Man (1949). I thought Gladiator II was good.
The thumbnail is Chris thinking about how much money this sponsorship will get him
I really felt Denzel was a complete miscast for this movie. Fantastic actor but just not for this role. This movie was pretty good but had a lot of flaws… more or less the same plot of the first movie, cartoonish villains, baboon cgi, rushed plot at times and characters you don’t really care about.
Ridley Scott jumped the shark.
Quite literally.
I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong. But the motivations in the third act seemed quite rushed. That conversation between the two male main characters reminded me of the Martha conversation between Batman and Superman. Those who watched Gladiator II will know which conversation I'm referring to.
People blame Chris for being too safe and afraid to say anything critical. Yet Chris is saying he doesn't rate the first "Gladiator" as high as a very large number of people do:)
Despite him focusing on the positive things he has outlined for himself in terms of film making and trends in big studio movies, I still don't see this review proclaiming the sequel is great, so I don't know why people are so upset he's not just bashing the movie (most everyone expected to be mediocre at best either way).
P.S. Or maybe I'm wrong and we have a production podcast with Riddley Scott coming out next, but then I'll listen to it gladly:)
I just saw it. I thought it was pretty good, maybe a B+ movie. Denzel and his character were great, with one exception. The fights were great. The emperors were kind of meh and the plot maybe had a little too much going on.
Spoilers:
The ending was bad and rushed. Why would denzels character who is presumably controlling the army leave them behind to run towards Acacius's army, and why wouldn't he have then stop lucius. And he thought he was going to beat a gladiator champion in a swordfight!? It felt to me like they realized for length and budget reasons there couldn't be a massive fight between the armies at the end so they just chose the most expedient way to end the movie.
It’s got big boots, sorry, sandals to fill. If you like epic historical films, Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven (must be the directors cut though, which is infinitely better than the theatrical) is up there
I watched the first one for the first time last Sunday and then I watched the second on Wednesday. I enjoyed both and I’d give them about the same rating. 7/10
Glad to see Ridley Scott didn't try to push his boots with gladiator. Alien he can get away with being a smart story and slow paced but something like Gladiator. I'm glad to see Ridley just made something entertaining
Wow Chris you blow my mined! the film was terrible, people were laughing out loud in the cinema.
This guy was once the best novie reviewer on youtube, now he is so washed, only his girlfriend wants to get stuckmanized
😂😂
🤣🤣🤣 bro
The big difference between the 2 movies, to me, is the feeling you end up at the end. In Gladiator, at the end, I was really moved. In Gladiator II I was "yeah, whatever..."
Bonus point: If you are an european like me with some knowledge about the Roman Empire, the threshold for the suspension of disbelief is way higher. Gladiator I also had its problems with historical accuracy but it was so good that I didn't care. The second one do not really past my test.
PD: Denzel Washington was great (as always).
Washington always commands the screen.
At 86 Ridley Scott has directed an epic and is running rings around every director in the business...his only universally acclaimed film in the last decade was The Martian. I really like the Last Duel but one success out of 6 with 6 other flops/duds following his previous major success (American Gangster) is hardly running rings...
I'm thankful you mentioned you're not a huge fan of the original. I am. I actually think it's the greatest achievement in modern cinema. So I'm skeptical to see II out of fear it will tarnish the original.
I have the first one in high regard also. So I was cautious about this one. Not sure if I'll see it at the theather.
Same.
If you're a huge fan of the first one, you'll definitely feel like something's missing. I'm not going into detail, but it'll feel like most sequels out there: too big of a shoe to fill
@@JoeyDezzz thx for the feedback, I think I'll skip this.
Lost a lot of respect for your opinion here my man. This movie stunk on almost every level
Denzel getting an Oscar for this? Nah no way. He’s Frank Lucas with a robe and sandals, come on
I know it's a Hollywood movie, but the historical innacuracy really took me out of it. There are TOO MANY anachronisms to count. And I get it, it's not really the point of the movie, but some things were so easily avoidable (the actress wearing a corset? In ancient rome?) !
I used to go to your channel all the time before going to see a movie, like a little ritual to myself. Sadly I don't think I relate to your videos anymore. I'm sad to see shorter videos with a lot of gushing over Hollywood and the scale/looks of movies. Where's the complex character analysis, the articulate, cinema-lover discourse that you used to have? I'll still support your works and your channel because you work hard and I know you're passionate, but I'm a bit disapointed honestly. :(
I liked the first Gladiator film a lot. To me it was a "complete" movie, so I was not so keen on a sequel. Nevertheless I was curious to watch the trailers and to hear about the storyline. Gladiator II indeed seems to be bigger, bolder and even more action packed than the original film. But sharks in the Colosseum? A gladiator riding a rhino? Agreed, it's entertainment and not a history lesson, but scenes like that throw this film in the SF/Fantasy realm while pretending to be about the Roman Empire. Too much is too much. Count me out.
I've just seen it at the cinema. I thought it was awful. Far too many glaring plot holes and the baboons and sharks looked straight from a budget sci fi film
The movie opens with the conquest od Numidia, which happened more than 200 years before Caracal and Geta.. It's like showing the american declaration of independence taking place in the 20th century
It's good?! That's amazing! Cant wait to see this during the weekends!
Pedro and Denzel stole the show. When Pascal claimed Numidia for Rome, you could tell right there he was struggling with the pressures put upon him. Excellent performace.
Man you've lost your touch. Just be honest.
I went into this movie blind not watching any trailers or reading any reviews and genuinely had a great time. As someone who really loves the original Gladiator, this film pleasantly surprised me. It was by no means a perfect film, but it was absolutely worth my time. I will admit, i was a bit disappointed with the ending and how it felt sort of tacked together, but other than that 90% of the movie was quite the spectacle. The characters were good, the action was great, and generally for the most part it was just good movie.
The harsh reality of it all is the shocking amount of harsh criticism the film’s receiving because of the fact its a sequel to understandably one of the most beloved films of the 21st century. A fair amount of the criticism ive seen is justified, but a lot of it seems like pure boomer hate. I have no doubt in my mind the studios wanted a nice pay check, and many parts of the film seem copy and paste from the original. There were references that were very on the nose, but i had absolutely no problem with that. In my opinion, this seems like a decently made love letter to the first film. By no means is it better, but was definitely a great watch.
I'm surprised Chris never reviewed Late Night with the Devil. 😮
Probably didn’t like it
It was trash
@@austinrash3963 😅
Its too Late Now , probably didn't like it
The movie should had came out around the late 2000s(between the final destination/paranormal activity days). It was a cool movie concept but you feel like you already know what they plan to do with the concept and then they hit you with an ending that felt out of nowhere(like some kingdom of the crystals type of pazaz) 6.9/10
Hey Stuckmann… what part of the movie did you like best.
Chris: oh it’s so hard to pick. Quite literally, the very next thing that happened in the film was my all time favorite…. Until the very NEXT thing happened!
Gladiator 1 is like Terminator 2 for me. It all ended with those movies. Granted, I might catch this one eventually on a rental sale, but I really have zero interest to revisit this. I feel like Gladiator had the perfect ending to an incredible movie. There is no reason to come up with something just to justify a sequel, even 24 years later. There is a reason every Terminator movie after 2 has been horrendous. It's what happens when studios request a movie to be made just to bank coin and not really put that much effort in the grand scheme.
Gladiator 1 was based on the works of David Franzoni, who pitched to Steven Spielberg, sparked the interest of DreamWorks Pictures, they bought it and re-wrote multiple times with the talents of those days before hiring Ridley Scott to direct the movie. Gladiator 2 was pitched by Ridley... and the rest is history.
I wouldn't say every Terminator has been horrendous, the new Anime on Netflix is dope like really cool, and Salvation was really decent