Lions finally began Gladiator II after much dread. A still appeared earlier to try to imagine the modern politicians of Rome II in Rome I.
https://growmane.blogspot.com/2026/02/youre-saying-vibe-coding-now-requires.html
The thing that appeals with the gladiator series are the visuals of ancient times. They're a lot more faithful than movies 40 years ago. These scenes probably existed in real life, in some form.
This was a plausible scene facing the coloseum from the Pons Aemilius/Ponte Palatino bridge. The Pons Aemilius bridge collapsed during the middle ages from floods & was rebuilt in the 1500's. The current bridge was built in 1887, leaving only 1 arch from the 1500's. So much for roman concrete being invincible. The aqueduct was plausible but it should have been on the south side of the coloseum.
We're probably getting a mashup of many artifacts, very loosely based on reality. This shot contains a foot from a past statue, showing the decline of Rome I. A statue that big didn't exist in reality, but a smaller one of Nero was northwest of the coloseum on what is now a square planter.
There were many arches in various orientations between the capitol & the stadium, which madmen dignitaries might have rode under on their way to the games.
There are still gateways to rome from antiquity, but only what was left after renovations in the middle ages. They have aqueducts on top.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Roman_Civilization
A very accurate model of ancient Rome was created from 1935-1971. The still standing artifacts are a remarkable legacy of the madmen of antiquity. A lot of history is quickly getting lost to dry, diluted, piss poor AI summaries dominating all searches.
Lions have doubts the real senators were as righteous as in movies. Ancient governments were like the mob & everyone was probably a bit senile.
Hottie gladiator wife was 1 of a kind. We would be so lucky to have a gladiatrix movie. She looked like a really stuck up Indian executive girlfriend.
Our man was kind of a nut job compared to Crowe's calculated composure. It was meant to show his disrespect for the rulers.
Guys in iron masks abounded, as they probably did in real life. We quickly realize there's going to be a final battle between our man & the general, though there's always a chance they both gang up against the emperors. Helas, there was a final battle, the general was revealed to be our man's stepfather. They teamed up in the end of the battle, but the emperor did away with the stepfather.
1st & foremost, it's still a fight movie like mortal kombat, karate kid, & all those. After much dental work, lions are amazed these guys of antiquity had any teeth.
Finally figured out the 2 emperors were brothers. Caracalla & Geta were real & Geta was really assassinated.
Another peek at the homeless situation, not unlike US.
The visual centerpiece was the boat fight, another real event which happened only a few times, right after it was built. They really did send in death row inmates to die. The flooding ended when the underground quarters were built.
As usual with digital productions, it dragged on with plenty of meaningless speeches.
For the final battle, we got some nice composition of all the senators, our man, & the heroine lined up for execution in the coloseum.
But when the cavalry showed up, the 2 surviving actors from episode 1 still died in the tradition of gladiator movies. Denzel was the slave who would be king. The deaths were the atonement for the heroine's father's sins, but it was all reather written in.
There were some nice CGI shots of ancient rome at a point when most movies run out of money & fake it. It really did have a wall & the road wasn't a superhighway. Our ancestors only knew fire trails as their mane roads & animal walking as their fastest speeds. Taming the planet took thousands of years.
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