Kalamoren

I've always believed Gladiator doesn't need a sequel and this proves it. I love Ridley Scott and I'm a huge fan of (most of) his work but this isn't Gladiator II this is Gladiator 2.0.

Gladiator II has pretty much the exact same plot as it's predecessor but here none of the stakes matters.

The Emperors, Ed Sheeran and his twin-which we are told are bad and evil and dangerous, allegedly?- put baby powder on their faces and a diaper on a monkey -perhaps they're truly evil after all.

Maximus was a general, a veteran, experienced from battlefields and wars commanded respect and even as a slave took control and led in the arena.

Why is a runaway boy pretending to be a leader? Oh sorry he's a prince... Should have given Spencer Treat Clark a chance to reprise his role, because that dude wasn't it.

Why is Pedro Pascal here? Useless character that brought nothing to the plot.

Gladiator had a stellar cast (Oliver Reed , Richard Harris, Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, etc.) which gave the most incredible performances, but here we have only Denzel Washington and even he's lacking his usual qualities and strengths.

The score although composed by Harry Gregson Williams is mostly recycling or copying the original score by Hans Zimmer. Shame because the very few original additions actually sounded really good.

Rome looks better than in the first film that's about the only positive note I can end this on.

I was wondering why I had given up on Servant and never had finished, so a week or so ago after trying to find a decent recap on YouTube and failing I've decided to rewatch everything from the very first episode.

The first series is really good, with that M. Night Shyamalan feel and looking back it also has the perfect ending, even if it was left open to interpretations.

Series 2, 3 and 4 just get daft, ludicrous and incoherent. Yes, they provide some answers but the execution is close to appalling. Hence my advice to stop at Series 1.

Ratings: S1 10⭐ S2 6⭐ S3 5⭐ S4 4⭐

(Never understood why episodes of under 30 minutes are deemed acceptable. Unless it's a sitcom)

"From The Producers of Happy Valley"

This above is the only reason I pressed 'play' and I've regretted it pretty much instantly. Happy Valley was gritty, captivating well executed and more. After The Flood feels more like a typical melodramatic soap.

I'll be honest, I stopped watching right at the beginning, during the Moses scene (you'll know which one I mean) but it's all I could endure...

Extremely poor, not sure exactly who is involved from Happy Valley but it's definitely not on the same level.

The flood theme was however a pretty good timing considering whats happening in the UK right now.