Gladiator II (2024)

Gladiator II concludes the mini-series I like to call ‘Films where the last instalment came out 20+ years ago’. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Twisters, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice have all been good instalments and now Gladiator II brings up the rear and this is the one I was unsure about because I didn’t know what they could really do with it but if anyone is going to try and make something of Gladiator II then it would be Ridley Scott. The film takes place 16 years after the first film with Rome now run by Emperors Geta & Caracalla who use tyranny to stay in power with Lucius from the first film on a course to exact revenge on General Acacius but is being used by Macrinus.

GOOD POINTS

Paul Mescal

I was never a big fan of Mescal. I don’t think he’s a bad actor I just don’t think he commands the screen but this film managed to make me change my opinion. Over the course of the film he seems to grow in confidence as an actor and the character becomes more believable as someone who could lead people. His fights were all well done and his final showdown with Macrinus was 

Denzel Washington

I had heard that Washington steals the show and I can confirm that this is true. He doesn't overshadow Mescal too much but he is clearly enjoying playing a manipulative monster and the way that he doesn't raise his voice or get into a fight once apart from shooting and bow and his fight scene with Mescal in the final act. He speaks when he has too and 

Good Action Points

All the scenes in the coliseum were very good and on par if not better than in the first one. The water battle was one i was looking forward to and even 

Violence/Gore was perfectly done

I watched the first film the previous night and worried that the violence and gore would be toned down for a 2024 audience but that was proved wrong because there are several moments where the blood is seen in glorious splendour and they didn’t shy away from it.

Tapped into the previous film enough

Being a sequel it was inevitable that there would be references to the first one but I was surprised how they didn’t go overboard with it. There were instances where they reference Maximus and the opening credits was a nice nod but I think that it was folded into the new film a lot better than I was expecting. I thought it was a very good screenplay from David Scarpa who is a Ridley Scott regular. 

I thought at one point they were going to dig up the figures that got buried at the end of the first one but thankfully they didn’t as it wouldn’t have made sense to anyone who hadn’t watched the first one in recent memory.

BAD POINTS

Pedro Pascal was wasted

The film makes it seem like Pascal was going to be involved a lot more in the story than he ended up being. Essentially his character gives Lucius motivation and they add something that he is romantically involved with Lucilla. But he is behind a plan to take power from the twins but once his plan is revealed in rather simplistic fashion, he becomes almost surplus’s to requirements as far as the plot is concerned. Pascal is a great actor but he deserved better.

OVERALL

This was the best Ridley Scott film since All the Money in the World. The film did a great job in telling the story and I was engaged from start to finish. The film was 2 and a half hours and the run time was perfect. It’s not as good as the first one but as long as you go into this film not expecting that then you will enjoy things a lot more. This is by far my favourite film of the year and that isn’t what I was expecting when I sat down at the cinema.

Conclave (2024)

For the first time in a while, I was debating between two films to see at the cinema. The first option was Juror #2 because it will probably be the last Clint Eastwood directed film and then second option was this. I chose this because I thought that this might have more going for it. There aren’t many films about the election of a new pope. I think the last film I saw about the Conclave was Angels and Demons about 15 years ago. I was keen on this not just because of the premise but because it was directed by Edward Berger who won the Best Director BAFTA in 2023 for All Quiet on the Western Front. 

GOOD POINTS

Ralph Fiennes & Stanley Tucci

There aren't many famous faces in this film but Fiennes & Tucci are two of them and they do a very good job. Fiennes drives the story along and Tucci pops up every so often and plays his role perfectly. Is he manipulating things to get the top prize of is he a victim of circumstances. It's obvious to say that Tucci is great in a role because he always is but as Megalopolis has shown, even top actors can have an off day but this doesn't apply to Tucci. Fiennes' performance is quite understated but still strong and the role of Lawrence is only made to be as interesting as he is due to Fiennes' performance.

Good Supporting characters

The rest of the familiar names also help. John Lithgow's Tremblay is portrayed as the ambitious and slightly sinister of the candidates for Pope but its never quite pulled off to make me feel like he is a proper villain and instead he is almost like a red herring. The other big name is Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes who is the one person that Lawrence can trust even though its not a typical relationship but it helps the story and the idea that Lawrence is a good man in a difficult position.

Very Good Plot

Some might argue that its a simplistic plot or even one that has been seen in films before and that may be true but it doesn't matter as its still very good and it kept me interested throughout. I don't know too much about the process of selecting a new pope and this film manages to make what is probably a rather dull process and turn it into something mildly entertaining and when you add in a dash of conspiracy into the plot then it leads to something that most people can enjoy.

Beautiful Looking Film

Despite most of the film taking place indoors, the film manages to look stunning from the costume design by Lisy Christl to the cinematography by Stéphane Fontaine, the film feels like a lot of attention has been given to making this setting feel important and dare I say it expensive. Sometimes people would say that this film is style over substance but I would disagree, the way that the film looks helps add to the enjoyment.

Perfectly Paced

At two hours, it might seem like the film is going to drag with the plot of a new pope being selected but Edward Berger manages to make the film feel like it was the perfect running time. I don't think that they could have really lost anything without affecting the film but had the film go on for even 10 more minutes then I would have probably not included this in the good points. Very rare do films know what the right duration is for a film but Berger times it perfectly.

BAD POINTS

Revelation of Benitez Felt Pointless

Once Benitez had been become Pope, there is a scene with him and Lawrence and its revealed that Benitez has male and female genitals and its not made out to be a big deal so I wondered what the point of it was. Aside from tying up a loose end in one of the sub plots, this revelation achieves very little. This is a nitpick really but because the film worked so well that any flaw would stand out a lot more 

OVERALL

I wont know for sure until I see Juror #2 but I think I made the right choice. I was very impressed with this movie. Not knowing too much about it probably helps and if you are interested in the mechanics behind the election of a new pope interesting then you will like this film but if not then this will be tough to get through. Easily in my top three of the year.

Heretic (2024)

Heretic is an A24 film so you know that its a slightly more intelligent horror film and one that I had been looking forward to for a long time because the trailers made it look like at worst a decent horror film but at best the film had potential to be one of the best horror films of the year. The set up of the film is that Sisters Barnes and Paxton visit a house and Hugh Grant's Mr Reed answers and before we know it Mr Reed tells the Sisters to pick a door to leave but there would be consequences.  Its a pretty simple story but what makes it interesting is that this film is about belief and questioning what you see and think.

GOOD POINTS

Hugh Grant
I thought that Hugh Grant might rival James McAvoy for best horror performance of 2024. This didn't happen but it came pretty close. Grant has really entered a great phase in his career where he seems to be having the time of his life and its a far cry from the floppy hair drip of the 1990's. Here there is a menace that is slightly over the top but not to the point that it ruined the film. 

The Sisters
This film features just three characters with Hugh Grant's Mr Reed being one and the two Sisters making up the other two. Sophie Thatcher (Barnes) and Chloe East (Paxton) are great on their own but together they work very well. Paxton is willing to see the good in Reed even as things start to turn weird whereas Barnes is being a bit more sceptical whilst maintaining a polite appearance. The sceptical side would normally be an irritation in this sort of film but because this film is about faith and accepting what your told, the sceptical part worked a lot better and both Thatcher and East deserve a lot of credit with being just as good as Grant.

Isolated Setting
I'm a big fan of isolated settings because I think that it forces everyone involved to be creative and think about how the story was going to work. Apart from the opening few scenes and the occasional cut away, the film sticks to the house and its basement. It doesn't feel claustrophobic but it does feel atmospheric and credit to Scott Beck and Bryan Woods for keeping things going so that the isolated setting didn't become a hinderance.

Tense
It's very easy to think that it doesn't take much to make something tense and that's simply not true. The way that the subject matter is discussed, Hugh Grant's performance and the house and basement all help to make the film feel very tense and this doesn't really let up until the very end.

BAD POINTS

Hammers home the religious message
When Reed is explaining what he is doing to the Sisters and there is a discussion, there are a couple of instances about iterations and Monopoly and Radiohead and after a while it did feel like they were just reiterating a point and I wanted the film to get going again. This doesn't last for very long but it was noticeable that they lingered on the point too much. 

OVERALL

I had high expectations for this film and I am relieved to say that they were met. This is probably going to be the best horror film of 2024. I really like Speak No Evil but the ending slightly ruined it for me. This doesn't do that. There is an ambiguous ending which I thought worked quite well and in my opinion I think she's in the process of dying and the butterfly was the final moment of her life. The setting was great, the performances were great and the film didn't end on a disappointing note. I thought the Topher Grace character was a bit of a waste of time really but that aside this was a highly enjoyable film.