STORYLINE;: After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people. (IMDb)

    Twenty four years ago Gladiator stormed its way across the silver screen and swept the Academy Awards. Russell Crowe became a house hold name and a younger, cuter version of myself, may or may not have been annoyingly quoining the movie to anyone who would quoted along with him.  By that I mean I would do so.

    Flash forward twenty four years, to the weekend before Thanksgiving and the sequel to the mega hit is now being released in theaters. My love for quoting the first is still there. I don’t do it as often, and to answer the more burning question, yes I am still just as cute but that is irrelevant to this blog.  Thanks for letting me feed my ego. 

    Obviously I have just seen Gladiator II.  While I enjoyed the sequel, because I wanted to enjoy the sequel to Gladiator, it did not live up to the 

epic feeling that its  predecessor had. 

   While the opening battle sequence was fun and exciting it was not a visual grand master piece.  It did not even compare to the one that opened the first film. 

   There were a few moments that seemed obligatory. Mainly shoehorning in footage of Russell Crowe. 

    Gladiator II had a few things in its favor. Padro Pascal gave a great performance and I was enthralled by Denzel Washington as the villain of the film.  I also enjoy watching Ridley Scott craft epic films. The Last Duel and House of Gucci being two of the most recent. 

    Over all I enjoyed the film. Even though it was just middle of the road.  I will say I promised my bartender I will tell her my thoughts on the movie first. Since I sat down for a drink after the movie and let her know then I have fil filled that promise and folks I hope you have now enjoyed this blog!

   Until next time I will see you at the movies!