Well, I was brought up watching those sprawling Biblical Epics of the eerly to mid fifties – from ‘Samson and Delilah’ to ‘Ben Hur’ and later ‘Barabbas’ so going to see Gladiator 2 at the Lobethal Cinema in South Australia in January, I was pretty well prepared – but was this to be something New – maybe a New angle.

The way CHI is used these days – maybe over-used – we are certainly able to see things on a mega scale with fearsome animals fighting people in the arena and spectacular sea battles and invasions

However in terms of storyline and plot Gladiator 2 certainly borrowed from these older films – a deranged Caesar – similar but not in the same league as Peter Ustinov in ‘Quo Vadis’, classic fights in the arena, and so on.

A few new things were added – a Centurion riding a gigantic Rhino against the hapless victims and a ‘flooded’ arena with sharks – that certainly stretched believability but it was so well done.

Ridley Scott directed and at his age, he would well remember these ‘big’ films of the fifties – so I am quite sure that he was influenced by them

ABOVE – Gladiator 2

ABOVE – A sadistic and cruel Jack Palance in Barabbas.

Clearly deranged and totally mad, Peter Ustinov in ‘Quo Vadis’ seen here with Patricia Laffan who plays malicious Empress Poppaea, sardonic and disdainful in her delivery, at times running close to overshadowing even the great Peter Ustinov in his most famous role as Nero

Yes I see many similarities in the plot of Gladiator 2 to these classics. I have to say I didn’t enjoy it anything like as much – maybe I am just much older and not viewing through youthful eyes.