When it wasn’t flashing back to the first film or having Mescal repeat lines and scenes from the original it was actually pretty good. Mescal wasn’t bad per se, but neither him nor his character had the same magnetism as Crowe/Maximus and it felt a cheap comparison. That being said, every scene with Denzel was amazing and when the movie diverged from the original in terms of rebellions and how the emperors reacted it was actually a great film. I…
