The director of ‘Oppenheimer‘, Christopher Nolan, has named ‘Gladiator II‘ as his favorite film of 2024. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film hit theaters last November starring Paul Mescal, Fred Hechinger, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal and Connie Nielsen among others. In his review in Variety, Nolan said the following regarding the sequel to the 2000 film:
“In Ridley Scott’s first Gladiator, Maximus asks us, ‘Did you have fun?’, and we are faced with the truth of why we would visit the Colosseum through a movie. Scott knows that we are not there to learn about Roman culture. ; we’re there to see our own dark desires at a comfortable distance. But he’s too experienced a director to get caught up in drawing parallels to our times. He lets the world of Gladiator II speak for itself, showing us once again. who we are inviting us to enjoy the crazy inflation ride. Why are there sharks in the Colosseum? Because we demand them, and Scott masterfully gives them to us. As he reveals how games are used to manipulate public opinion, we can’t help but see shadows. of our own public stage projected on the sand”.
“Like the best long-awaited sequels, Gladiator II must be a remake and a sequel at the same time, and it is a testament to Scott’s brilliance that he manages to balance the excitement of the original with the expansionist demands of the sequel’s central theme, Bringing a lifetime of experience, Scott elevates the game with his action staging: his incredible multi-camera staging (so different from the original) masterfully battles with the action in clear and stunning sequences one after another. it’s just to entertain, but to bring us to awareness of the film’s themes. Few filmmakers have worked so invisibly on multiple levels. In films like Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, or Gladiator II, the visual density of Scott’s Art serves as a foil to it. its underlying thematic clarity”.
“Despite all his success, Scott’s contribution to the evolution of cinematic storytelling has never been adequately recognized. The visual innovations that he and other British directors of the 1970s introduced to cinema were often dismissed as superficial, But critics of the time missed the point: the sumptuous cinematography and meticulous design brought a new depth to the films’ visual language, a mise-en-scène that could tell us what the worlds they portrayed might feel like. This has never been clearer. as in the masterful opening shot of Gladiator II, where Paul Mescal’s hand gently cradles the harvested grain of the swaying wheat in the original film.”.
