27/19
Musician Nick Cave was asked to pen a version by Russell Crowe and Sir Ridley Scott
Line of Events
After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now rule Rome, Lucius is forced into the Colosseum and must look to his past for the strength to restore Rome to its former glory. Elsewhere for Stranger Things, check out the TV and movie roles of Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, and more. In the years since the first film’s release, there have been numerous attempts to write a sequel.
He is eventually tasked by Jupiter and other Roman deities with returning to Earth to find and kill Hephaestus, an ancient deity who betrayed them
Their version focused on the more mythical elements of Ancient Rome, and would have seen Maximus arrive in the afterlife, only to be confronted by other souls who have not yet ascended. From there, he is resurrected as a Christian and travels back to Rome, tasked with stopping the spread of Christianity, while crossing paths with the new emperor, Lucius. The film would have ended with Maximus being cursed to live for an eternity, featuring a montage of the soldier fighting in the Crusades, World War II, and the Vietnam War, eventually revealing a modern-day Maximus working at the Pentagon in Washington.
Lucius: Strength and Honor
The studio decided not to proceed with this version, but the script is available to read online. Featured in The 7PM Project: Episode aired July 3, 2024 (2024). Now, as I watched the movie, I really tried not to hold back and compared it to the first one, but the movie borrows sooo much and throws in so many winks, easter eggs, and cameos that it’s simply impossible not to compare.
The fact that so many people are praising it confirms a bitter reality
Unfortunately, the first one did absolutely everything, every aspect better for much better and definitely character/drama wise. While it’s definitely not the worst movie of all time, this movie is symbolic of the state of Hollywood today and how much it has declined over the past 2 decades. Story and plot simply don’t matter or at least much less than they used to, people are satisfied when they see pretty pictures.
This script (by the same writer of that abominable Napoleon movie) things feel random and forced
This movie definitely looks glorious and expensive and had a great grandeur, but it fails to have a coherent plot, in the first movie every scene was absolutely important, even during the battles, the characters spoke for their actions and where very consistent in the way the character was portrayed. The acting is good to great, which makes it all the more unfortunate that the story was so weak.