Why the Gladiator 2 trailer has made people angry

Why the Gladiator 2 trailer has made people angry

The first images of Ridley Scott’s film have not pleased everyone.

Weekly Praeterita (in French: last week) the first trailer of Gladiator II, more than twenty years after the legendary peplum of Ridley Scott. Highly anticipated by fans, it has exploded the counters, becoming the most watched trailer among Paramount productions – surpassing Tom Cruise’s fighter plane in Top Gun: Maverick. But also, the one that holds the record for dislikes, with 279,000 thumbs down against only 133,000 thumbs up.

For good reason, a phenomenon that quickly set social networks ablaze, collecting everyone’s first reactions. Some were excited by the tenacity of the actors, the magnificence of the images, the costumes and the even bigger and more entertaining fights, others played historians explaining how the Coliseum had been able to host naval battles. A third category, that of the dissatisfied, also stood out.

We know exactly what Gladiator 2 will be about: Ridley Scott, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Connie Nielsen tell us

One of the first criticisms made, reports The Hollywood Reporterconcerns the content of the trailer, rich in images, characters and extracts of battle scenes. Have we already seen the whole film with this three-minute montage? We quickly understand that Lucius, played by Paul Mescal, and son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) wants to take revenge on the Roman army and more particularly on General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), and at the same time on the two-headed regime led by the Emperors Caracalla and Geta. Everything will be played out in the arena as was already the case for Russell Crowe in the first Gladiator. Attention, Gladiator II still has some surprises in store for us. We haven’t seen the baboons and sharks teased at Cinemacon yet.

Among the new faces, we also find Denzel Washington in the shoes of Macrinus, a wealthy merchant supplying the Roman armies with slaves, warriors and other human goods. Far from having a British accent, conventionally used in Hollywood in period films, his New York speech is jarring and surprising.

Accompanying this review is the use of the song “No Church in the Wild” by Kanye West and Jay-Z. Rap ​​to illustrate the Roman Empire, that made more than one person jump. If that was not a problem when this sound sublimated the soundtrack of the film Gatsby the magnificent by Baz Luhrmann, its use to illustrate Paul Mescal striking Pedro Pascal’s sword tickles nostalgics Hans Zimmer, composer of the original music for Gladiatora notable absentee from the project.

On Youtube, the comments under the trailer in French come in all forms: “Rap on Gladiator! Shameful, pathetic.”

Followed by :

“When I think of the beautiful music ‘Now we are free’ and I hear this, it’s a shame.”

In its original version, the first comment goes so far as to make the correlation between the musical choice and the casting:

“The producers : ‘We have Denzel. We’re gonna put on a song to highlight the Roman Empire.’

Beyond the style, it is above all the lyrics that deserve to be studied. Referring to many elements of ancient culture – and in particular to the “blood staining the doors of the Colosseum” – this song mainly evokes the fight against hierarchy and elites, the uprising of the masses and the desire to control one’s destiny. A subtext that we also find in Gladiator

Will “No Church in the Wild” be in Gladiator 2or is it just a promotional tool? And what about the original music? To replace Hans Zimmer, the director is far from having called on a novice. Scott has surrounded himself with Harry Gregson Williams – composer, notably of scores of Kingdom of Heaven And House of Gucci – two feature films by Ridley Scott. Enough to reassure the anxious?

Gladiator 2 will be released in theaters on November 13. The chance is here.

Similar Posts