Gladiator II
It’s been almost a quarter of a century since movie-goers saw Russell Crowe in his career-defining role as Roman-general-turned-gladiator Maximus Decimus Meridius, standing bloodied and defiant in the great Colosseum of Rome, bellowing, “Are you not entertained?”
Ridley Scott’s millennial revival of the ‘sword and sandal epic’ was a resounding hit, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2000, plus scooping up a clutch of Academy Awards. It’s safe to say that a potential sequel did not seem likely, with Maximus being incontrovertibly dead as the end credits rolled. Still, pesky little details like mortality seldom get in the way of the Hollywood juggernaut. An assortment of early scripts did the rounds over the next decade, notably one gleefully bonkers effort by Australian rock star Nick Cave, which would have seen Maximus resurrected as an immortal warrior by the Roman gods and sent on a mission to end Christianity by murdering Jesus and his disciples, accidentally killing his own son in the process, and being cursed to live forever as the ‘eternal soldier’ in a sort-of Highlander-meets-Spartacus mash-up.
Perhaps, fortunately, the film sank instead into development hell. It’s only now, a generation after the original, that Scott has finally settled on a credible script and delivered Gladiator II. Set some sixteen years after the events of the original, the Roman Empire is even closer to its decline and fall under the rule of the corrupt and degenerate twin emperors Caracalla and Geta. The grandson of the late emperor Marcus Aurelius (and the true heir to Rome), Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal) is living in hiding with his warrior wife in the kingdom of Numidia, which is, as the film opens, invaded and conquered by Roman general Acacius (Pedro Pascal). Lucius’ wife is killed in the battle, while Lucius is captured and enslaved. Arriving at the Roman port of Ostia, he is marked as a potential gladiator, and, after surviving a pit fight with a troupe of wild baboons, soon comes to the attention of ambitious, scheming master-of-gladiators Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who sets him on the same road taken by Maximus before him: to the Colosseum.
This brings us to the elephant in the room (or rhino in the Colosseum in this case): did the world really need a Gladiator sequel, and does this movie serve any purpose other than to tarnish the luster on the original? Well... sort of. It has to be said that the wildly uneven script is laden with a multitude of plot inconsistencies and lumpen, ponderous dialogue, which seems at times to be chaining the starry cast by their ankles. Lucius’ character arc is utterly ludicrous, and while deporting himself well in the film’s action sequences, Paul Mescal lacks the brooding, animalistic gravitas that made Russell Crowe’s Maximus a compelling hero. Ultimately, the story lacks the originality to feel like anything more than a re-tread of the first movie.
That said, this is a Ridley Scott film, which is absolutely beautifully crafted. Directed with all of his trademark visual bells and whistles as evidence, the film lacks substance, which it makes up for in style. In conjuring up the image of a decadent empire in decline, Scott makes visual nods to Fellini’s Satyricon and Tinto Brass’ Caligula; while Denzel Washington, in a gloriously overblown performance, has endless fun chewing the scenery to pieces whenever the camera lands on him.
Are we not entertained? Perhaps we are. But not as much as we were the first time around.
Sunset Road
When William Shakespeare penned his tragic tale of two doomed teenage lovers, Romeo and Juliet, he could scarcely have imagined that it would still influence new generations of actors and filmmakers almost 450 years after its premiere. With a strong claim to be the most-filmed play ever written, a bewildering plethora of screen adaptations stretches back over 100 years, featuring leading men from Leslie Howard to Leonardo DiCaprio, with the action transposed from Verona to New York to Gujarat, and just about everywhere else in between.
However, there is at least one place that has never played host to the legendary star-crossed lovers: Eastern Washington’s wine country… until now. Broadway star, Edinburgh Fringe veteran, recording artist, and Kennewick native Janet Krupin brings The Bard home with Sunset Road, her debut film as writer, director, and star.
A whimsical riff on the themes of Romeo and Juliet, Sunset Road sees the warring Capulets and Montagues replaced by the Cabernet-producing Campbells and Merlot-making Montgomerys, two neighboring wine families who bicker endlessly over which one of them produces a superior bottle of vino.
The film opens with prodigal daughter Etta Campbell visiting home from Seattle. By a quirk of fate, the rival families have both booked tables at a local high-end restaurant at the same time. During this Michelin-starred cold war, seasoned liberally with Olympic-level passive-aggression, Etta’s eyes meet those of Montgomery daughter Oryn, who’s a little bit Goth and a lot bored with wine-making. Next thing Etta knows, she’s on a balcony (well, okay, it’s the decking on her uncle’s patio) engaging in some weapons-grade flirting with Oryn, replete with enough suggestive wine-related double-entendres to make even the most broad-minded vintner blush.
At this point, the tale deviates somewhat from Shakespeare’s text in that neither family seems particularly bothered by the prospect of Oryn and Etta doing a horizontal tango amid the vines, sticking assiduously to their preferred gripes about Canadians buying wine-growing land, unpredictable yeast, and how awful the Campbells / Montgomerys are. That said, this is a light romantic comedy, so high drama culminating in a mass suicide was never in the cards. It’s less Titus Andronicus, and more Much Ado About Prosser.
Krupin’s script is effervescent and fruity on the palette, and littered with more wine-making in-jokes than one can reasonably count. The set-piece scenes featuring the families sniping at each other are waspishly hilarious, but the love story between the two leads is paper-thin and unconvincing. There’s no real chemistry there, and what little there is feels awkward, to the extent that a montage scene intended to convey unbridled lust comes across as comedic rather than erotic. That said, it’s only fair to remember that this is a movie shot on a shoestring budget with a largely amateur cast (who deport themselves with a gleeful ‘let’s do the show right here’ charm that carries the movie through its relatively short run-time).
While it’s never going to make the shortlist for the next Academy Awards, that doesn’t stop Sunset Road from being a spirited, witty debut from Janet Krupin, and local Tri-Cities viewers (particularly regulars at The Emerald Of Siam in Richland) will have endless fun spotting well-known local places and faces. In fact, I can feel a drinking game coming on… Merlot or Cabernet, anyone?
Recently arrived in the Tri-Cities, Damian is a former freelancer who previously wrote movie and music reviews for a variety of UK websites.
