TLDR:
This movie does not live up to the original in any shape or form.
Without divulging too much, this movie fell flat. The lead actor does not have the same screen presence as Maximus, nor does he have enough depth to make you emotionally invest in his struggle and quest for justice. I hate the long, boring-ass megaphone-amplified speeches that are in every scene he is in. The traumas he experiences are not convincing enough because the movie does not properly invest in character development.
The premise follows too much of the original movie, whereby the themes and events felt repeated and re-hatched without any further enrichment or layered detail. The twin emperors were a fucking joke as they overacted their characters to that of nothing more than childish petulant demeanors where it seemed to have wanted to sell them as the cruel and deranged successors to Commodus. I laughed more at them than I hated seeing them due to their over-the-top antics. It failed to inform the watcher as to why they were how they were so that their actions would have a rhyme and reason aside from just being incestuously pale and deranged.
Denzel is the only true saving grace in this film, but his character development happens later on in the film. His desire was born of a lie that built a nation, and this lie sought him to expose the ugly truth. He was this film's brain, heart, and comedy.
Last thought and minor spoils:
What in the effin' Sharknado just happened?
How times 1000?!