The movie does take awhile to kick into gear, but once it does the movie is great. Denzel Washington, in particular, is amazing in this film. His character is so fascinating the entire time and his performance is so good. It's really the main reason to watch this movie. The story itself is actually quite good as well. A lot of different aspects and I think some don't have the time to fully develop. But still it was a good story. I think the movies main weakness is the main character. It's not Paul Mescal's fault. His performance is fine, it's just his character feels a little too derivative of Maximus from the first film and, as a result, the character can be a bit bland which is part of why the first third feels a bit rough. But like I said, once it kicks into gear the movie is great. And the bit tedious first act is worth it in the end. The battle scenes, particularly the gladiator ones are all a lot of fun. The very good final part more than outweigh some of the films weaknesses. So even in spite of those, I still give the movie a 9/10