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Gladiator II, a sequel that debuts nearly a quarter of a century after the original, is a bold, truly epic return to where filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott first made mega fans with Russell Crowe’s quest for vengeance against a corrupt emperor.
But I’d hesitate to call it a masterpiece, as breathless first reactions did on social media.
Director Scott has clearly thought a lot about the Roman Empire in the last 24 years, being sensitive to the pitfalls of following up such a popular film with a sequel that might dent its legacy.
Gladiator II by no means tarnishes the reputation of what came before it – but there are a handful of stumbles that drew awkward laughter at my screening, mainly when screenwriter David Scarpa and Scott are too heavy handed with the links to the first film.
The story which Scott eventually settled on for his return to Rome – penned by Scarpa from an idea by him and Peter Craig – is well-crafted in its motives and action, following similar beats to that of Crowe’s Maximus Decimus Meridius. A gifted warrior is taken into slavery following the murder of his wife and child by invading Roman forces.
What’s different this time is the warrior is Lucius (Paul Mescal), secret son of Maximus and late emperor Marcus Aurelius’s daughter Lucilla, who is living in hiding in Numidia. And the general leading the army, Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), trained under Maximus – and is now married to Lucilla. Juicy.
Lucius’s arc as a captive follows a similar path to that of his father’s, showing his gifted ways with brutal combat early on until he is a respected gladiator sent out to fight to the death in the Colosseum during a festival, more than once.
Mescal is thoroughly believable as Lucius, capable and keeping the eddy of his fury just beneath the surface of his performance. He proves a commendable leading man but sometimes feels a bit underdeveloped by the script and emotionally constipated. The wild swing in his change of behaviour toward Lucilla in two separate encounters is an example of where it feels like they hacked away a bit too much at his character in the edits.
Alongside the twang of bowstrings and roaring explosions of catapult bombs in Gladiator II, a deliciously old-school sword and sandal film-esque from Scott, there’s also no shortage of blood spraying. Gladiators are gorily dispatched via rhino horn, beheading, gnashing shark jaws and terrifyingly bloodthirsty baboons – we’ve upgraded from Maximus’s tigers here.
The film’s creative interpretation of accuracy has also started making headlines with some of the more ‘cinematic’ choices that Scott has made, but this has never bothered him before in his bid to deliver entertainment to fans. A perfect example of this is Emperor Geta (Joseph Quinn), who co-rules with his syphilis-ridden brother Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), doubling down on the reversed thumbs up and down ruling in the arena. Scott is unrepentant in the inaccuracy pedalled by the first film – and I admire that.
Quinn is beautifully intense as Geta, forming a debauched and corrupt ruling force with a brother so addled that his pet monkey is given insultingly high status. While not as formidable a force as Commodus in Gladiator, who was only too happy to murder his father, these two demonstrate a grotesque reality of the excesses of Rome.
They also allow space for the machinations of the true villain of the piece – though you’ll love him – Denzel Washington’s Macrinus, a former slave turned arms dealer and gladiator owner, who mentors Lucius. He has ambitions of his own to control Rome, aside from the senatorial plot that Lucilla and Acacius are involved with that seeks to end the empire’s war mongering and vice – he’s not bothered by any sort of conscience, as his shocking actions prove.
Such audacious behaviour makes Macrinus sure to be a moustache-twirling, fan-favourite baddie for the ages. Washington’s unique reading of the line ‘my friend is politicssss’ will be the quote of the film.
The Training Day star is just so good, so supremely confident and charismatic, so over-the-top that I would love to see another Oscar come his way. Gladiator II is undeniably his movie, but I wonder if he’s having too much fun for the Academy to award his performance?
The downside is his marvellous scenery chewing can make Pedro’s Acacius and Connie Nielsen as Lucilla seem rather deadly serious – as their plight is – but it’s a bit like they’re acting in different films sometimes. It’s not helped either by those embarrassingly on-the-nose decisions mentioned earlier that undermine the urgency of their scenes, such as a very unsubtle Roman statue and a servant extra lurking with extreme obviousness. You’ll spot them.
Gladiator II’s climax also seems to come not once but twice, with Mescal making more than one stirring speech to the masses, which he does with aplomb, but indicates some trimming of the 148-minute runtime could have helped.
However, the ambitious scope of the film and the effort that has gone into it is quite something to behold – nobody else is making movies like this anymore. I may have quibbles but Gladiator 2 is compelling and, most importantly, entertaining.
While it doesn’t reach the dizzying heights of the first Gladiator, held by many moviegoing fans in very high esteem, it has lots to admire. And am I already ready to watch it again? Absolutely.
Gladiator 2 releases in UK cinemas on Friday, November 15. It will be released in the US on November 22.
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