"Mescal thrives as sensitive, engaged, melancholy but trying, leaning forward to hear you talk and really look at you types. The Irish heartthrob only gets to lean into that persona opposite one character in Gladiator II."
"There's a disconnect between his body and his face, a sense that he's swinging a sword around when he'd really rather be sitting down and talking to someone seriously and vulnerably."
"When he's with [the gladiator turned doctor], Mescal twinkles and preens. He leans over a bit so their gazes are unbroken; he holds his body steady - and doesn't pull away..."
"Amazingly (and a little ironically) for a movie this committed to straight-guy nonsense, Gladiator II offers us the full Paul Mescal experience solely when he's angled that distinctively disheveled mullet toward... his most selfless ally."
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