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Mild spoilers ahead (though nothing the trailers didn’t already reveal).

I recently rewatched the original “Gladiator” to set myself up for success when going to the theater for its long-awaited sequel. Instead, I found myself wondering what happened to director Ridley Scott. The original “Gladiator,” released in 2000, is a borderline classic that stands the test of time. In contrast, some of Scott’s most recent work seems uninspired and grasping to be something it’s not. I’m specifically referencing “Napoleon,” “House of Gucci,” and now “Gladiator II.”

While “Gladiator II” has its grand moments that get you all giddy in your seat because the action is so epic, I mostly found myself bored in the “between” parts of this 150-minute movie. This film has pacing issues. “Gladiator II” ebbs and flows between one set-piece sequence to the next with no regard to the audience. A few of the story moments around the identity of Paul Mescal’s character, “Lucius,” specifically feel as if the writers thought they need to hold the audience‘s hand to the reveal, despite the trailers and all marketing material already revealing who he is. 

On top of the pacing issues of the film, I never fully bought into the other story points around “Gladiator II.” Some narrative moments feel like a lazy retelling of the first film while others seem shoehorned in order to give the high-paid actors something to do. 

Kendrick Lamar starts his exhilarating new album by complaining that someone vandalized a mural depicting his face — a mural depicting his face in triplicate, in fact — on the side of a Honduran restaurant in his Compton hometown. Never mind that somebody cared enough about Lamar to paint the mural in the first place. What the 37-year-old rapper is pissed about is that this billboard-sized monument to his greatness was defaced.

That’s the energy Lamar is tapped into on the deeply irritated “GNX,” which came out by surprise Friday morning, eight months to the day after he jumped into an epic feud with Drake that ended up lifting Lamar to new heights of commercial success and cultural prestige. (That the Pulitzer Prize winner vanquished Drake in their beef now goes without saying.) In April, he scored a No. 1 single with his appearance on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That”; in May, he did it again with his own “Not Like Us.” Lamar put on a historic all-star concert in June at Inglewood’s Kia Forum, then announced that he’ll headline the Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans in February, just a week after “Not Like Us” is set to compete for record of the year and song of the year at the 67th Grammy Awards.

Yet grievances abound on “GNX,” whose dozen tracks had taken spots 1 through 12 on Spotify’s U.S. Top 50 by early Sunday and which is all but certain to debut atop the Billboard 200 next week with one of 2024’s biggest openings. In “Wacced Out Murals” he can’t believe that Snoop Dogg had the audacity to post one of Drake’s diss tracks on social media — “I prayed it was the edibles” is his concern-trolling explanation — and laments Lil Wayne’s public disappointment that Lamar got the Super Bowl gig instead of him. “Used to bump ‘Tha Carter III,’ held my Rollie chain proud,” he raps, “Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down.”

“Hey Now” is about the punishing scrutiny he faces as a celebrity, while “Peekaboo” questions those trying to tarnish his legacy. “I did it with integrity and n— still try hate on me,” he growls in “Man at the Garden” — a distinct shift in outlook from Lamar’s previous album, 2022’s knotty “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” where he was riven by self-doubt after a decade of being held up as the voice of his generation. Here, in contrast, he’s daring anyone to say he doesn’t deserve to be admired (even if few beyond Drake have actually suggested that he doesn’t).

Whatever its source at this point, indignation remains a valuable motivator of Lamar’s art; his writing and rapping on “GNX” are as razor-sharp as they were in the brutal diss tracks he released one after another, Drake barely getting a second to breathe between them, this past spring. As funny too: “N— feel like he entitled ’cause he knew me since a kid,” he sneers in “TV Off,” “Bitch, I cut my granny off if she don’t see it how I see it.” Lamar is worked up about liars, about folks doling out backhanded compliments, about other rappers with “old-ass flows” wasting space with empty rhymes. Indeed, what seems to make him angriest is the idea that a person could triumph in hip-hop by taking hip-hop less seriously than he does. The album closes with a song called “Gloria” in which he spends nearly five minutes extending a detailed metaphor that positions writing as the great love of his life.

As eager as he is to frame himself as a singular talent, Lamar happily shares the spotlight on “GNX,” passing the mic to a number of young L.A. up-and-comers including Dody6, Lefty Gunplay, Wallie the Sensei and AzChike; in the title track, he doesn’t even take a verse, merely joining Hitta J3, YoungThreat and Peysoh on the song’s chorus. “Heart Pt. 6” recounts his origin story as a member of L.A.’s scrappy yet shrewd Top Dawg crew. And then there’s the lithe and funky “Dodger Blue,” in which he’s but a humble product of the oft-misunderstood city that shaped him: “Don’t say you hate L.A. when you don’t travel past the 10,” goes one line destined to be seen on a T-shirt or hoodie any day now.

Kendrick Lamar, in green jacket, films the music video for “Not Like Us” in Watts in June.

(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)

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Produced by a team led by Lamar’s longtime collaborator Sounwave and the pop hitmaker Jack Antonoff — Mustard, who helmed “Not Like Us,” also co-produced two tracks — “GNX” is steeped in West Coast styles and sounds; the music slaps, slides, bounces and shimmies. Several songs ride highly recognizable samples: In “Reincarnated,” a densely lyrical fantasy in which Lamar imagines his past lives, the beat is “Made N—” by 2Pac, the late philosopher-braggart in whose contradictions Lamar has always found inspiration; “Luther,” a sensual duet with SZA, remakes Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s remake of “If This World Were Mine” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell — a gorgeous piece of lineage-making that calls to mind Beyoncé’s archival ambitions on albums like “Renaissance” and “Cowboy Carter.”

Even amid those plush textures, though, Lamar has retribution on his mind. “If this world was mine, I’d take your enemies in front of God,” he promises-slash-threatens, “Introduce them to that light, hit them strictly with that fire.” Watch out.

The Bouncer, 2024.

Directed by Massimiliano Cerchi.
Starring John Ozuna, Costas Mandylor, Rosmary Yaneva, Vincent Rivera, Nick Turturro, Gerald Okamura and Tayah Kansik.

SYNOPSIS:

In Romania, fugitive Frank Sharp takes a job as a bouncer. Saving a woman from abuse, he discovers she’s trafficked. They escape together but are relentlessly hunted.

Opening with Frank Sharp (John Ozuna) starting his new role as a nightclub doorman in Romania, The Bouncer wastes no time in setting its story into motion. Sharp has barely started his job before we get a sense of his moral fibre as he struggles to standby when the crime boss, Kane is using his hands to discipline his girlfriend, Silvia (Rosmary Yaneva). Despite his cohort’s warnings to turn a blind eye, Sharp inevitably can’t and when he does intervene he and Silvia (who has been trafficked) go on the run with a criminal organisation on their tail. Fight scenes and car chases ensue.

If it all sounds familiar, it’s because The Bouncer takes a tried and tested formula that feels like the kind of film that was almost limitlessly turning up on the shelves of your local Blockbuster or Ma and Pa video store back in the 90s. Where we get a little variation is that Ozuna, whilst playing a character haunted by a troubled past, isn’t a dark, brooding and flawed hero. He has a strong moral code, drawn to help the good folk overcome their evil oppressors. That’s not to say he takes the softly softly approach, because Sharp (with help from Ozuna’s martial arts background) delivers no shortage of double dick punch beatdowns. 

Ozuna has enough sincerity and humility to make Sharp likeable and he’s backed by a solid cast. Mandylor always relishes playing the villain and is suitably gruff and menacing as Kane, whilst Turturro (as always) brings his A game in a small role as a Doctor. Then there’s the always-welcome presence of the inimitable Gerald Okamura whose inclusion definitely makes this feel like a lost video action special from the 90s (which is obviously a good thing). Prolific producer/actor, Simon Phillips also pops up as Ozuna’s fellow bouncer who helps him along the way. Phillips has also just unleashed one of the barrage of Mickey Mouse-themed public domain horror riffs racing to get to audiences first. The Mouse Trap managed to get over the line first. 

Massimiliano Cerchi has been there, done it and got the T-shirt (and the gold chain, which he dons in an enjoyable director’s cameo). The budget leaves it rough around the edges in places but Cerchi manages to bring it on home and unlike all too many action films these days, keeps things lithe with a runtime that comes in at comfortably under 1 hour 20 minutes. As said, there are some refreshing touches laced throughout thanks to Adrian Milnes’s script that doesn’t retread that tired miserable (anti-)hero trope (as seen with Jean-Claude Van Damme’s jaded and broken anti-hero in Darkness of Man) that every film of this ‘Taken style’ ilk seems to follow.

One other pleasing aspect here is the use of Romania as a location. 20 years ago it was a staple of the DTV action realm with the likes of Van Damme, Seagal and Lundgren virtually residents they made so many films in the country. Of late, Romania doesn’t seem to be as frequently used. Here we get a nice mix of cold modern streets, grimy back streets and remote buildings as Sharp and Silvia try to stay ahead of their enemies. Those action scenes set within the Romanian locales are nicely put together but have a ceiling due to budgetary restrictions. The car chases are short and to the point but perhaps leave you longing for a car flip or explosion here or there. You can’t have it all, I guess and having worked in low-budget cinema I know all too well how difficult it is to eek out every cent to deliver bang for the buck. 

Overall this is a simple but enjoyable action film that delivers what audiences expect and yet still manages to lace in some fresh touches. It doesn’t resort to being relentlessly dour, or overly wise-cracking, striking a good middle ground that not many sit within nowadays. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but this motor definitely has a smooth ride. 

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★

Tom Jolliffe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist