A sequel that will not dig into its own premise

Watched in theatres, and I came out disappointed.

The premise is the best thing the film has: that he is Maximus’s son. It makes sense, and it should have been the whole movie. Instead you get a quick backstory — he is living in another country, his wife is killed, and the film moves on. That is lazy, and it throws away the one idea worth building on.

Pedro Pascal’s character is wasted in the same way. There is a general there worth watching, and the film never gives him the battle sequences to do anything with.

The shape of it is a repeat, too. The hero clawing his way up from the ground again is a climb we already watched once, done better.

6.4, and a good part of that is nostalgia.