Adrien Brody stars as a talented architect who flees postwar Europe to meet his match in America, a power-hungry industrialist played by Guy Pearce.

This wan photorealistic prequel to a remake, the latest addition to the Disney juggernaut, was directed by Barry Jenkins of “Moonlight” fame.

Denzel Washington’s performance shows skill, intensity and absolute confidence in Ridley Scott’s pleasurably immersive epic about ancient Roman fighters.

Blending fact with generous, liberating fiction, the director Frances O’Connor brings the author of “Wuthering Heights” to pleasurable life.