In a massive, ultraviolent swords-and-sandals spectacle, the standout scene is surprisingly simple: a man enters his place of business, which is a pit where prisoners of war must prove themselves to become gladiators. The entrance of this man, portrayed by a notable actor, is electrifying, overshadowing even more complex and violent scenes involving baboons, rhinos, naval battles, and grudge matches between military generals.
and his neighbors unleash hell on Roman centurions attacking them. It isn’t when Mescal is forced to fight a rabid baboon for sport, and the Irish heartthrob wins by savagely biting the monkey’s arm. It’s not when a charging rhino gores an unlucky gladiator, or when a massive naval battle is recreated within a flooded Colosseum, complete with a half-dozen hungry sharks. Nor is it when Mescal finally faces off against Pedro Pescal’s military general in an extremely Freudian grudge match, i.e.
You can catch glimpses of Bad Denzel lurking right beneath the surface of a lot of his performances over the past 40-plus years, especially in roles that lean more toward flawed, borderline antihero than straight-down-the-middle hero . But when he lets his characters go off the leash and indulge in their worst behavior, you can feel Washington tapping into a collective id that in a way that feels downright giddy.
There’s a seductiveness to Washington’s voice, until he decides to get dead serious. He’ll swipe a full coffee cup off a table to punctuate a point. But for a few moments there, you find yourself drawn to Lucas’ idea that he’s nothing more than a successful businessman, and this is all just business as usual. The glint in the eye of hisentrepreneur’s soul, but it’s still there.
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