Kipper-4

I never expected Gladiator II to match the heights of the original but neither was I prepared for the gap to be so large. Visually it was quite impressive with some very good action scenes but sadly it lacked substance and I had very little investment in any of the characters. I think it tried far too hard to replicate the original version which I think was a mistake as the deep and meaningfuls failed on every level and for the most part it resembled a cartoon. Paul Mescal was a poor choice as he simply did not have the same screen presence and gravitas of Russell Crowe and his speeches bordered on the comical. Action scenes are all very well but in my opinion a good film needs much more than that.

Whatever they are doing, it isn't working. Unlike the previous two seasons there are absolutely no characters that are engaging and it is totally devoid of the humour of season 1 and to a lesser extent season 2. I'll stick with it but after three largely uneventful episodes I'm not overly optimistic. Episode 3 was the dullest so far with lots of 'mood' shots but very little by way of moving the stories on unless you like watching rich, unlikeable people shovelling food in their mouths. I was quite forgiving of the rather bland opening episode as it is all about introducing the characters and location but episodes two and three have been equally nondescript.