Mehnificent

What does it mean for a gangster film—not just in Taiwan, but anywhere in the world—to recite all the liturgies of brotherhood, blood, and betrayal, but leave you with nothing more than the memory of flickering shadows on a wall? Joe Lee’s Gatao (2015) is exactly that: a movie that earnestly checks the boxes of triad cinema, hoping to conjure up some of the lurid energy that made Hong Kong’s Young and Dangerous a pop touchstone—but ending up more like a karaoke version sung after midnight, charming in its recognizability, but never threatening to set the night on fire.

Since Ridley Scott's original Gladiator took the world by storm in 2000, my expectations for the sequel, Gladiator II (2024), have oscillated between cautious optimism and deep skepticism. As someone who holds the first film in high esteem, there was a blend of excitement and anxiety leading up to this cinematic reunion. Would it sift through the sands of time to emerge victorious, or would it become a forgotten footnote?