Nostalgia, spectacle, and missed opportunities

COLLIN GARBARINO: It’s been almost 25 years since the original Gladiator starring Russell Crowe captivated audiences and conquered the Oscars. And for a certain kind of male movie lover, Gladiator remains the pinnacle of cinematic achievement. So, of course, Hollywood, in its quest to exploit every bit of nostalgia to the maximus, decided to make a sequel.

LUCIUS: Strength and honor.

The action picks up 20 years after the original. Paul Mescal plays Lucius … the grandson of Marcus Aurelius … and he’s now living in exile in North Africa. A pair of despotic twins now rule Rome, and after the Roman army, led by Pedro Pascal’s General Acacius, destroys Lucius’ home and sells him into slavery, Lucius vows revenge. He’s aided in his quest by a slave master played by Denzel Washington.

MACRINUS: Whose head could I give you that would satisfy this fury?

LUCIUS: The entire Roman army’s.

MACRINUS: Too much.

In the original Gladiator, director Ridley Scott took certain liberties with the historical record, but with this sequel, he shows an utter disdain for anything resembling accuracy. This film isn’t so much historical fiction as it is historically inspired fantasy. He pushes the storyline, sets, costumes, and action sequences beyond reality into the bizarrely grotesque.

It’s all very silly, but I’m sure some old Gladiator fans will still appreciate the spectacle. The movie has an R rating, but it’s solely based on bloody violence—very little sensuality or bad language.

While Gladiator II hopes to capture the attention of the manly men, the other big film of the weekend appeals to a different demographic.

Cynthia Erivo, left, and Ariana Grande in a scene from the film Wicked Associated Press / Universal Pictures

Wicked is a Broadway favorite, and now it’s been given an over-the-top silver-screen adaptation.

This musical tells the supposed true story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz. Serious-minded Elphaba is a green-skinned girl who goes off to school and meets the bubbly Glinda. The two would-be witches don’t get off on the right foot, but after being forced to room together they become friends.

GLINDA: Oh. I saved you some space by the way.

ELPHABA: Do you really think this is fair?

GLINDA: I do not. I was promised a private suite. But thanks for asking.

Not everything is right in the Land of Oz, and Elphaba uncovers a plot that will lead to her being rejected by society.

I’m philosophically opposed to these kinds of stories in which bad guys get recast as the good guys. Cruella, Maleficent, those movies with the dreamy vampire boyfriend… But… I have to admit this is an entertaining musical. Director Jon M. Chu takes us on a zany romp through Oz. The singing and dancing take place within beautiful magical settings.

And the PG movie is fairly family friendly. But you need to be prepared for the worst thing about the movie… the runtime. At 2 hours and 40 minutes, you’re going to be sitting in those theater seats for a long time. And you won’t even get the full story. This is just Act I. You’ll have to wait a year to get the rest of the story.

THE WIZARD: The best way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy.

Jonas Dassler in a scene from Bonhoeffer Angel Studios

This weekend, theaters even have something for fans of Christian stories with the debut of Angel Studios’ Bonhoeffer.

BONHOEFFER: The church should be a place of refuge, a place of sanctuary, not a place of power.

Hollywood veteran Todd Komarnicki writes and directs Bonhoeffer, a film that pays tribute to the martyred pastor who stood up to Hitler during WWII. As with many of Angel Studios’ other films, this movie has high production values. German actors play the principal characters. And the sets, costuming, cinematography, and lighting capture the beauty and the horror of the 1930s and ’40s.

Bonhoeffer nails the atmospherics, so it’s a shame the script fails to do justice to this complicated hero. We jump from childhood to his last days in prison then back to his time as a young man studying in New York then forward to Germany where he must stand against the Nazis, help form a breakaway evangelical church, and become a spy who smuggles Jews to safety. It’s a dizzying tour of a life with the barest bit of insight into Bonhoeffer’s motivation holding it together.

And while a biopic will necessarily rely on imaginative scenes, the bare historical facts ought to be respected. Komarnicki attempts to heighten the film’s dramatic tension by exaggerating Bonhoeffer’s role in the assassination attempt against Hitler on July 20, 1944. This exaggeration of his espionage work comes at the expense of getting a real sense of role as a pastor.

BONHOEFFER: The German Church must stand on God’s word alone. Not any man’s word. And especially not a Führer’s word.

This biopic has its inspiring moments, and it might capture the extraordinary busyness of Bonhoeffer’s fight against Nazism. But it feels rushed when depicting his calling as a minister. I would have liked to see something of the man who penned The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together. But other than learning that he cares about the marginalized, we don’t get much of a glimpse into the theological thinking that motivated this remarkable life.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

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