Gladiator II Review

Ready to re-enter the Colosseum in ancient Rome? In 2000 Gladiator was released, the historical epic won five Academy awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe. Twenty-four years later director Ridley Scott has given us a sequel - Gladiator II. Scott had a mammoth task at hand, how do you create a sequel to one of the greatest films of all time? Gladiator II is a four-star exhilarating historical epic. It fails to live up to its predecessor, but that doesn't not mean it is a bad film or even an unworthy sequel. I greatly enjoyed the cinematic experience that is Gladiator II, in all its historically epic style! Read on for my full review, there will be minor spoilers.  Set two decades after the events of Gladiator, you may expect to find a free Rome ruled by a senate that answers to the people, as was the dream of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. a Rome that Maximus fought and died to reform. However, Rome is now ruled by young and cruel twin Emperors Caracalla (Fred He...

Johnny English Strikes Again Review

So this week I had the choice to see A Star is born or Venom at the cinema - I totally want to see both as both have been popular and I keep seeing people praising A star is born and discussing Venom. I however decided to go and see Johnny English instead because why not? It's fun to be different. Also every time I saw the trailer on TV I could not stop laughing. I am a long time fan of the series and could not wait to see Johnny in action as possibly the worst spy again. So read on to see what I thought of the film and be warned there may be the odd spoiler.


The film begins with the UK suffering a cyber attack where the identities of all active spy's are released meaning that the prime minister (Played by the wonderful Emma Thompson) has to make the call to bring agents out of retirement in order to track down the person or people responsible for the attack...queue Johnny English! (Rowan Atkinson). English is not the only agent to be recalled but the others exit the movie rather quickly when English fumbles with a powerful bomb device. As Johnny is listing his requirements for the mission he asks for Bough who as we all know was absent from the second film. Bough and Johnny then go on a spy mission to find the guilty individual whilst they continue to hack British computers sending all planes to Luton airport and speeding up the London Eye and more. Narrative wise the film very much has the same formula as the previous two films - it could even be a copy of the first film which is what makes it so enjoyable.


Rowan Atkinson once again brings to life the hilarious Johnny English, a relatable spy (let's face it we'd all be more like him than James bond!). He still plays off stupidity that works out well in the end as the intended plan, he is about as sneaky as 'a bull in a china shop' and is honestly the worst spy but that's why we love him so much. Atkinson does not disappoint, he is as funny as ever, just wait for the dancing scene - it honestly made me laugh so much. Emma Thompson is a new addition to the films and she is also hilarious - I love her in like everything but she was brilliant in this as the Prime Minister that is just trying to look good whilst everything that could go wrong. The female shy role of the film is also a new comer: Olga Kurylenko plays Russian spy Ophelia. She is actually a decent spy that crosses paths with English and even attempts to kill him. This film also marks the return of Bough played by Ben Miller who yet again demonstrates that he should be the spy and not the sidekick, even though he has no clue of this. There is also cameos by legends Michael Gambon and Charles Dance. It is honestly such a great cast.


One thing this film did great was to poke fun at our current society, especially our obsession with technology. The films plot centres around a cyber attack for example. In one particularly funny scene, English goes to meet the guy that will give him his weapons. He is given only a phone to which Johnny refuses (mainly because he can't actually use it) and he instead asks for a gun. Before handing of the gun English has to listen to a health and safety warning which is hilarious. Then later on English uses a virtual reality device and ends up causing all types of chaos. It really is a twenty-first century spy movie, that pokes fun at younger generations and technology, which I found rather amusing.


There is not much more for me to really say without listing every single moment that made me laugh - and that would probably take up several pages. If you love the first two Johnny English films then you will love this one also, if you are looking for a light-hearted film then this is the one. I really loved this film so ignore the critic reviews and the bad rotten tomato rating and go and watch it. It just good fun and sometimes that's the best type of film.


Thank you for reading x


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Comments

  1. I agree, this film pokes fun at a lot of things, from everyday politics to our need for "whole-grain sourdough bread". One of the best films I've seen in a long time, my tears were dropping I was laughing so hard. Thanks for the review :)

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  2. Thank you for reading Kat, I am glad you enjoyed the review and the film! It is for sure one of the funniest films of the year!

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