The return of the gladiator

First of all, some good news and some bad news: at the time of writing, the Italian film VERMIGLIO by Maura Delpero, a peasant story set in the 1940s and awarded at the Venice Film Festival – in addition to being Italy's candidate for the next Oscar Awards – is achieving excellent results at the box office. A film that is not easy and "anti-spectacular" but capable of interesting lovers of the seventh art who have started going to the cinemas again after the summer break. But the unfortunate news is that to date only cinephiles are supporting the market which is currently lacking the most popular segment of the public. generalist: the results are merciless and attest to an overall drop of 50% in takings compared to the same days in October 2023.

As often happens, productions try to play the safest cards for the general public by proposing new developments of stories that have won over viewers over the years. Here, then, is the second episode of THE GLADIATOR. The story is set about thirty years after the first film and sees as its protagonist Lucius (the promising actor Paul Mescal), son of Lucilla and nephew of Commodus, saved by Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe who appears again in a few flashbacks) at the end of the first film and now in search of his real father. The director is identical, that now legendary Ridley Scott for filmography (Blade Runner above all) and with new additions, among all Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal. The trailer of the film guarantees a high level of spectacularity: the images of ancient Rome at its maximum splendor - with an obvious focus on the Colosseum equipped for a naumachia, simulated naval combat (but only for the setting certainly not for the violence) - promise a great level of adrenaline for the viewer. Will it be enough to bring him back to the theater? 


NP November '24
Davide Bracco