'Have you considered that Gladiator II is awesome?'

It's set to be a big weekend at the box office, with the release of highly-anticipated films Wicked and Gladiator II.

Both movies promise big, sweeping stories, stunning special effects, and compelling performances by a star-studded cast. But will the excitement of the action and the legacy of the first film be enough to push Gladiator II out on top?

Today on Commotion, critics Hoai-Tran Bui, Rad Simonpillai and Jackson Weaver join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about the highly-anticipated sequel from Ridley Scott, and whether it lives up to the original.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, including the panel's review of the new film Wicked, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Rad, you get the honor of kicking this off. Does this movie work for you?

Rad: Uh, no, it doesn't…. I think it works fine enough as a rehash made to sell popcorn. I don't think Ridley Scott's heart was in this. I mean, the guy feels like he was dragged into this by fans who were demanding a Gladiator sequel, and he's like, "Okay, fine." — just kind of rehashing the plot of the original. The original Maximus character is now basically split in two, between the Paul Mescal character and the Pedro Pascal character: one being the vengeful gladiator, the other being the war-weary general. You've got kind of the same stacked deck, the only variable here being the Denzel Washington character that's kind of keeping us on our toes.

The movie is really just throwing a lot more at the screen — a lot more CGI, like CGI apes, CGI rhinos, CGI sharks. That's all very bloodless, and there's a lack of stakes there. I don't feel any conviction in anyone who's telling the story, or any of the actors who are going to try to convey the emotions. I think the big thing I'm missing is the showmanship, because remember, if we're talking about the original Gladiator, it was all about showmanship.

Elamin: "Are you not entertained?" and so on.

Rad: Yeah, it's Maximus learning how to make the audience love him. It's about him swinging the swords around in really cool ways and diamond formation and all that stuff. There was a real orchestration of all that. There was a real investment in the showmanship, and the only person who got that memo in this movie is Denzel. He's putting on a show. Everyone else is just kind of in his shadows.

Elamin: Hoai-Tran, you recently rewatched the original Gladiator. How did you feel watching the sequel?

Hoai-Tran: I understand the criticisms, and I don't think it quite holds up to the original. But have you considered that Gladiator II is awesome?

Elamin: Go in!

Hoai-Tran: I think there is a showmanship. I think that the over-the-top, absurd sequences that you have with the sharks in the Colosseum are just the kind of absurd popcorn-spectacle that I want to see in a blockbuster movie nowadays. And I disagree with the idea that Ridley Scott's heart is not in it, because the man is 86 years old. I don't think he's doing anything that he doesn't want to do, and I feel like he wanted to return to Gladiator II. And yes, it's a rehash of the first one — sometimes in painfully obvious ways, especially in Paul Mescal's performance — but I think that Ridley Scott brings a much different approach to this sequel in his later years of his career. 

There's a nastiness, a nasty streak of violence, and also a kind of black humor to his movies that we've seen in movies like The Last Duel and Napoleon, that I think he brings to Gladiator II. It's a much more hardened, cynical movie, and maybe that's why there's a little bit less of that sincere showmanship that we see from the first one. But I enjoy it. I think that he's just in his 80s like, "I don't care what people think. I'm just going to do what I want — and also just let Denzel chew up the scenery."

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jean Kim.