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- A ‘Gladiator’ Sequel Is Following in a Tried and True Tradition
- From Prestige Events to B-Movie Dreck
- Ridley Scott’s Quarter-Century Struggle to Resurrect the Old-School Epic
As a film enthusiast who has spent countless hours watching movies from various genres and epochs, I must say that the ancient epic genre holds a special place in my heart. However, it seems that this once-mighty genre has fallen on hard times, struggling to regain its former glory.
In modern cinemas, Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” stands out among films featuring swords and sandals, a genre that was once dominant in Hollywood. This type of film, while it may seem old-fashioned now, was actually quite influential in the 1950s, serving as a blueprint for many early blockbusters. However, these films often carry certain expectations and negative connotations. Over time, numerous historical action movies have graced our screens, but they usually follow familiar patterns, concentrating on a lone hero with a fondness for extreme sports, a villain with a flamboyant mustache, and stories of revenge that are largely black and white in nature. The real essence lies less in the plot twists than in the underlying themes.
Despite constantly utilizing the same formula and transitioning from intricate sets and stop-motion animation to computer effects, Scott’s Gladiator franchise has not deviated. However, as we will discuss below, the inherent aspects of this cinematic experience can be just as detrimental to the genre as they are beneficial. The recent history in this field has been far from promising. For instance, the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans was a great success. However, the disappointing debut of John Carter two years later dashed any hopes that the genre would recover. Two separate Hercules films were released in 2014, but they quickly disappeared into the vast ocean of undistinguished Netflix content. Oliver Stone’s pre-Hellenic biopic Alexander from 2004 and the 2016 remake of Ben-Hur also flopped. Do you remember Pompeii or Gods of Egypt? Neither do we.
At 86 years old, Scott isn’t giving up; instead, he’s trying to revitalize a nearly extinct genre. Let’s see how the Gladiator films compare to their predecessors. While Gladiator II is just the second installment in a planned trilogy, its future remains uncertain as it hasn’t progressed beyond the brainstorming stage. Given that large-scale movies often struggle financially, this might not be the best time to risk changing a viewing pattern that’s been around for half a century. Some may question if it’s too late to captivate today’s audience, as they have little connection to this type of action movie.
As a film enthusiast, I won’t be delving into the realm of Japanese cinema for this piece, given that samurai films constitute a distinct subgenre with its own intricate narrative threads, often operating independently from global cinematic trends originating in the West.
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A ‘Gladiator’ Sequel Is Following in a Tried and True Tradition
We’ve progressed significantly from the era of low-quality black-and-white films with comical fight scenes. Today’s CGI creations like digital sharks and aggressive monkeys in the Colosseum are a stark contrast to Ray Harryhausen’s skeleton army. At the dawn of cinema, D.W. Griffiths’ silent film Intolerance was highly acclaimed as one of the most significant milestones in movie history. This was followed by the first adaptation of Ben-Hur, not featuring Charlton Heston. However, due to concerns over censorship, Hollywood soon began to focus on producing historical epics that were bland and promoted a pro-Christian message, such as Solomon and Sheba, the remake of Ben-Hur with Heston, and The Ten Commandments.
In days gone by, all it took to create a blockbuster movie was gathering around 20,000 supporting actors, referencing a few verses from the Old Testament, signing up an A-list actor with physique to spare, and voila! You had yourself a cash cow at the box office. Ironically, it’s Cecil B. DeMille, the director of The Ten Commandments, who unintentionally paved the way for censorship through his bold portrayals of nudity and violence. The Hays Code was established, in part, as a response to his audacious depictions.
Prior to Italy’s obsession with spaghetti Westerns and horror movies, Italian film producers heavily capitalized on this trend, churning out gladiator and mythology-themed films en masse. The productions were not particularly impressive, made on shoestring budgets with unknown actors who were often dubbed. For a period, a significant portion of the Italian film industry focused solely on a single character known as Maciste, a muscular hero from the 1930s and 1940s.
As depicted in “A History of Italian Cinema”, this character inspired an astonishing 25 films during the ’60s, with numerous imitations following swiftly. Notably, these spin-offs frequently featured bodybuilder Steve Reeves and often altered the Italian hero’s name in English adaptations to more recognizable titles like Hercules, Goliath, Samson, or Atlas. It’s hard to imagine, but Hollywood initially showed reluctance to join the sequel trend. However, they eventually gave in; one of the rare instances where a Hollywood Biblical epic received a follow-up was with “The Robe”, which spawned “Demetrius and the Gladiators”, marking one of the few occasions that a Hollywood Biblical epic ever warranted a sequel.
From Prestige Events to B-Movie Dreck
For three decades, cheaply made films capitalizing on popular genres tarnished their reputation. As early as the 1950s, there was a strong reaction against the excessive production of similar sword-fighting movies. Notably, Paul Newman openly criticized his debut film, The Silver Chalice, stating it was “the most atrocious movie made during the 1950s.” He even took out an ad in a magazine to warn people away from watching his historical drama.
The timeless tale of “Jason and the Argonauts” became well-known primarily through VHS rentals and television screenings, as it didn’t draw a crowd in cinemas. This could be why Ray Harryhausen’s John Carter film never materialized. With financial flops like “Cleopatra“, the industry had to swiftly adapt to producing less expensive films that reduced grandeur and scaled back on elaborate sets and large casts and crews.
In the 1970s, the ancient epic had fallen out of relevance, and the most well-known sword-and-sandal movie from that era was Caligula, a provocative, exploitative film, produced by someone who was known for creating pornography. John Milius’s Conan series in the 1980s aimed to bring the pulp hero to life on screen, and he found an actor who perfectly fit the character, but the movie franchise ultimately failed when the sequel did not live up to expectations.
When Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his prime, struggles to fill movie theaters with excitement for a violent fantasy film, it shows that the project is tough to market successfully. Even with genuine star power, the sequel Conan the Destroyer earned only a small portion of what the original movie made; the spin-off Red Sonja dealt a fatal blow to the Conan franchise for many years, but was revived in 2011 only to flop at the box office and be criticized by its lead actor Jason Momoa. This demonstrates that the popularity of Conan the Barbarian was fleeting.
Ridley Scott’s Quarter-Century Struggle to Resurrect the Old-School Epic
In terms of rekindling the popularity of this rather specific genre, Ridley Scott seems to be the ideal candidate. Unfortunately, he doesn’t appear to be receiving assistance in this endeavor. Apart from Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy (2004) and Zack Snyder’s 300 (2006), there aren’t many successes. It’s also important to note that Snyder’s film is more appropriately categorized as a comic-book movie, an action film heavily influenced by the style of Frank Miller’s work.
Following the monumental success of Gladiator, I couldn’t let go of the allure of epic storytelling. I dived back into the genre with a film titled Kingdom of Heaven, which unfolded during the seldom-portrayed Crusades. Kingdom of Heaven was a cinematic journey that seemed to be lost in its own history, initially met with mediocre reviews in 2005 but eventually finding a dedicated fanbase years later due to a fresh edit, alas, coming too late to impact its box office performance. The financial underperformance of my subsequent films, The Last Duel and Exodus: Gods and Kings, didn’t make things easier.
There are several factors contributing to the decline of this genre. Lengthy three-hour films often strain viewers’ patience, causing even dedicated movie enthusiasts to check their phones before the midway point. Indeed, these movies are so expansive that they usually include 15-minute intermissions for audiences to visit the restroom or grab a snack to prevent low blood sugar levels. However, by 2024, when most media is consumed at home on TVs or smartphones, such issues should be minimized.
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2024-12-05 04:02