Seems Christopher Nolan wasn’t any much less entertained by Gladiator II. In actual fact, he picked the sequel as his favourite movie of 2024 in a brand new Selection characteristic, praising Ridley Scott for “as soon as once more exhibiting us who we’re just by inviting us to benefit from the loopy inflationary journey.”
Starting his written breakdown, Nolan hearkened again to the unique and defined a part of its greatness was Scott figuring out “we’re there to see our personal darkish wishes at a cushty take away” with out “making parallels with our time.”
“Why are there sharks within the Colosseum? As a result of we demand them, and Scott masterfully provides them to us,” Nolan wrote about Gladiator II, which he believes succeeded by as soon as once more placing a mirror to society: “As he reveals how the video games are used to control public opinion, we will’t assist however see shadows of our personal public area projected onto the sand.”
Nolan continued by lauding Scott’s skill to steadiness the “particular person pathos of the unique” with the “expansionist calls for of the sequel’s central themes” in addition to “elevating the sport” together with his motion sequencing.
“The staging of his motion — his unbelievable, hyper-observant, multi-camera mise-en-scène (so totally different to the unique) masterfully wrestles the motion into clear and jaw-dropping sequence after sequence,” he wrote. “The impact is not only to entertain, however to drive us in the direction of consciousness of the film’s themes.”
Concluding, Nolan added, “Regardless of all his success, Scott’s contribution to the evolution of cinematic storytelling has by no means been correctly acknowledged… This has by no means been as clear as within the masterful opening shot of Gladiator II, the place Paul Mescal’s hand gently cradles the grain harvested from the unique film’s swaying wheat
Learn Nolan’s full blurb at Selection. The piece additionally options picks from Michael Mann, Barry Jenkins, Seth Rogen, Fede Alvarez, and extra.
It’s price noting that Scott’s personal cinematographer, John Mathieson, not too long ago described the filmmaking of Gladiator II as “actually lazy” and “fairly impatient.”
In our Gladiator II overview, Senior Leisure Editor Liz Shannon Miller agreed with Nolan’s evaluation of its “epic battles and transportive sweeping filmmaking,” however mentioned the movie was “undercut by a script tragically burdened by cliches.”
Pre-order your bodily copy of the film right here, and see all of the methods the sequel connects to the unique movie.