Eggers’ most ambitious film (many more locations, set pieces, etc) and maybe it suffered from trying to meet the scale of a big(ger) budget. Some of the visual language doesn’t marry up perfectly - castle scenes feel like a different world to the rest of the movie.
At the end of the day it is a remake of a 1920s film that I’m sure introduces a lot of ideas, but people expecting sincere contemporary social commentary are probably looking in…
When Paul fights a monkey, he bites the monkey’s arm and a CHOMP sound effect is used that sounds like something from a cartoon.
Gladiator II cares too much about justifying its own existence through really grating flashbacks to the first film that it forgets to make you care about like any character. Even my guy Pedro Pascal had me like 🤷🏻♂️
Also you can 100% tell where May Calamawy’s scenes were cut :(
Cinema used to have like 4-5 of these standalone blockbusters a year when I was younger. Now even getting one a year feels like such a treat, so I will cherish The Creator and watch it many many times.
It also has some of the most visually stunning CGI I’ve seen in forever and made me cry.
