Movie Review – Gladiator II
Principal Cast : Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, Alexander Karim, Tim McInnerny, Rory McGann, Yuval Gonen, Alex Ulgoff, Tann Gael.
Synopsis: After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.
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This review contains specific plot spoilers for Gladiator II.
Count me among the naysayers who thought there was absolutely no reason to sequelise one of the great American movies off all time – 2000’s Oscar-winning Best Picture Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, dominated awards back in the day and made a superstar of then-relatively unknown actor Russell Crowe, and for many it was one of those superb films telling a singular story that didn’t require another venture back to the Coliseum. The story of Maximus Decimus Meridius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, carved a legacy into popular culture that has remained enduring some two and a half decades later. So when Ridley Scott announced that he was making a sequel, and that it would be set around fifteen years after the original film’s poignant and tragic conclusion, I was dubious, because emotionally it felt like the story Scott and his team told back then was completed satisfactorily. It absolutely surprised me to find that, although dumber than any major blockbuster released this year. Gladiator II marked a successful venture back to ancient Rome for Ridley Scott, at least in terms of sheer entertainment and rousing spectacle, of which Scott is undoubtedly the master of modern Hollywood. Gladiator II isn’t without some considerable flaws, and is nowhere near the equal of its Academy Award-winning ancestor, but hell if it isn’t crowd-pleasing entertainment as close to a Roman Fast & Furious as it’s possible to achieve.
Plot synopsis courtesy Wikipedia: Set 16 years after Gladiator, the plot centres on African slave Hanno (Paul Mescal – Aftersun), the former son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and Maximus (Russell Crowe’s character from the original), though he has grown unaware of his true parentage and real title of Lucius Verus. Living in Numidia with his wife, his life is shattered when the Roman general Acacius (Pedro Pascal – The Mandalorian) invades, killing his wife and enslaving him. Back in Rome, the corrupt twin emperors Caracalla (Fred Hechinger – Fear Street) and Geta (Joseph Quinn – A Quiet Place: Day One) sponsor gladiatorial games, where Lucius rises as a fighter, drawing on the legacy of Maximus. Denzel Washington portrays Macrinus, a scheming former slave turned imperial adviser, who manipulates events to achieve his own political ambitions. The plot intertwines political intrigue, rebellion, and familial revelations, culminating in Lucius donning Maximus’ armour and leading a revolt in the Colosseum. The film includes several poignant flashbacks to Maximus, underscoring Lucius’ journey to embrace his father’s legacy and claim his place in Roman history.
Fair to suggest Ridley Scott has been hit-or-miss the last two decades, with his track record of critical and commercial successes taking more than a few lumps in recent times. For every banger like Kingdom of Heaven (Director’s Cut) or The Martian, there’s been bombs like All The Money in The World or The Last Duel, not to mention the critical drubbing given to his foray into Apple TV+ streaming with Napoleon. Having recently come off watching the Director’s Cut of Napoleon and finding it a monumental misfire, my expectations for Gladiator II were really quite low, given the pace at which Ridley works giving me concern his late-career flurry of movies is more a gain for his bank balance than a legitimate creative force. Suffice to say, despite some laughably dubious plot mechanics, a central twist we see coming before the opening credits even start, and several bonkers historical inaccuracies (something Ridley himself scoffs at, in fairness), Gladiator II is quite the sword-and-sandal movie, a bloody return to ancient Rome that audiences haven’t been craving but one, I posit, we probably deserved. In terms of its net positive, it affords the chance for Ridley to deliver yet more stunning battle sequences inside Rome’s most famous landmark, launched with a seamless blend of practical and CG visual effects, as well as a bombastic audio mix that will blow you out the back of the theatre.
Other glorious aspects of this very-much-in-the-shadow-of-the-original-film include some dynamite work by Denzel Washington, who chews the scenery and out-acts every. one. on. the. screen, even if this is a far cry from any chance of winning an Oscar. Also living in the shadow of Russell Crowe’s Maximus is Paul Mescal, as Hanno, whose character seems intent on following the same journey for much of the film (even down to the murdered wife), but who approximates the same tough-guy, chisel-jawed, Roman nose of an eponymous gladiatorial combatant. Mescal leads the film well, but in fairness he isn’t an actor of the same screen presence as Crowe, and the film lacks that gravitas a lot, particularly when the screenplay demands Mescal’s character become the defacto leader of the gladiators and deliver some “stirring” speeches. It’s always a delight seeing Connie Nielsen on screen, and her return as Lucilla is the strongest link between the two films, and the core emotional journey the audience is taken on. Lucilla’s link to Hanno/Lucius, and their links to the late Maximus and Marcus Aurelias (played by Richard Harris in Gladiator), are central to Mescal’s own emotional journey, and for the most part it works. At least, it does until the final act, where the depth of writing takes a back seat to some substantive unearned narrative leaps, knocking in a few twists and turns that even took me by surprise, even if it all felt very slight.
I speak of the writing, which comes to us from Napoleon and All The Money In The World screenwriter David Scarpa, who seems to grasp the nuances of Roman life and what audiences what from a film entitled “gladiator” and runs with it. The trouble is, Scarpa invests so much of this film in our nostalgia for the original Gladiator, he can’t escape it when he needs to. Mescal’s character embodies similar qualities to that of Crowe’s Maximus, which works well enough as a shorthand for introducing the character but eventually becomes trite and formulaic. Heck, even Hanno’s journey from African resident to slave fighting in the Coliseum takes about twenty minutes, the film moves so briskly. It’s as if Scarpa and Scott feared we’d be bored if we didn’t get into the gladiator stage of this story as fast as possible, and so the opening act of the film does feel a touch rushed. With Mescal having to shoulder the Maximus archetype as well as he can, despite being a fairly bland character overall, Ridley and Scarpa also make the mistake of introducing a bunch of new supporting characters we’re forced to spend a lot of time with without Hanno being around. Maybe the side-effect of Denzel Washington’s involvement, and that of Nielsen, Tim McInnerny and the wretched new Emperor duo in Geta and Caracalla, required Mescal to be pushed to the side of his own film for a while. Ridley certainly directs the hell out of the slower, plot-movement sequences well, although I kept wondering why they didn’t want me to connect more strongly with Hanno. So while the original Gladiator was Crowe-centric for the entirety (even when he wasn’t on the screen his presence remained), Gladiator II has a problem of overstuffing itself with characters that either a) aren’t likeable or b) aren’t interesting.
Chief among the issues the film faces is also its slavish devotion to, and continual referencing of, the original Gladiator. The fate of Maximus and Lucilla is revealed, and Hanno eventually utilises the strength and honour of Maximus’ legacy to find himself as a character – again, he has less of his own agency and more of using the nostalgia we have for Russell Crowe as a buffer for his own journey – to the point there’s a sense of predictability to be had here. There are also a (surprising) number of flashbacks to Gladiator (including a brief clip of Maximus’ death on the floor of the Coliseum) and a lot of too-clever-for-its-own-good hints at destiny and fate woven into the script that tires pretty quickly, but you’re having so much fun it hardly matters. I’m all for nods to what came before, but Gladiator II is unable to, or unwilling to, escape the franchise’s legacy, and that’s a tripping point for me, despite everything.
There’s plenty of humour to be found too, among the tragedy, with Mescal’s buddy relationship with resident Coliseum medic Ravi (Alexander Karim) forming some of the more light-hearted elements of this otherwise quite dark story. Oh, the value add of Matt Lucas as the Coliseum announcer amounts to zero, but Tim McInnerny’s snivelling Senator Thraex, Lior Raz’ gladiatorial trainer character and a returning Derek Jacobi (as Senator Gracchus) are always fun to watch, offering a great tableau ensemble for the film’s playbook. Poor Pedro Pascal’s role of Acacius, living as Lucilla’s husband and reluctant Roman general, is undercooked as a perfect foil for Hannos’ arc into gladiator superstar. Acadius orders the death of Hanno’s wife, which means when Hanno turns up as a gladiator to seek revenge he’s seeking revenge on his mother’s lover – as incendiary as this potential showdown could be, Scarpa fumbles the ball here, and Pascal has a strong argument for feeling short-changed with the character by the end of it all. Pascal is solid in the part, but the part felt like a lot of it was left on the cutting room floor. As previously mentioned, it’s Denzel Washington’s turn as Macrinus that is worth the watch, the actor absolutely having a blast with a character as licentious and duplicitous as Oliver Reed’s Proximo was formidable. Washington’s scene-stealing batshit insane performance here is worth the price of admission alone. I did find it weird that his story arc was stronger than that of Paul Mescal’s… you know, the title character. I mean, Denzel is such a powerhouse performer, and Mescal so much more restrained (without Russell Crowe’s screen presence), it’s an uneven balance the film can’t overcome.
But – and this is a massive but – the film absolutely crackles with sure-fire entertainment power. Things feels very much centered around the gladiator sequences for the most part, which is what audiences want, and the various battle sequences (including raging monkeys, ferocious rhinoceros, and a staggering water-battle involving a shark-infested flooded Coliseum) clobber the viewer with sweaty, dusty blood and gore as an avalanche of carnage is writ large on Ridley’s grand canvas. A lot of it is highly illogical, and utterly implausible, but it’s all delivered with such combustible ferocity by Ridley and his production team – and massive kudos to editors Claire Simpson and Sam Restivo for their work keeping this all coherent – one can’t help but be…. well, be entertained. It’s nowhere near the quality of the original, but as rousing entertainment that delights in itself as often as it can, and delivers no-brain violence and action as only Ridley Scott can deliver, Gladiator II is a tremendously salacious follow-up that’ll make for fun repeat viewings.
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