So it’s kind of wild that we are getting a sequel to a film that was released twenty-four years ago. I know it happens, but did we really want and desire a sequel to Gladiator? A film that made Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix household names. It won Best Picture in 2001, brought sand and sandal epics back to theaters again, and was pretty much a modern classic. So what is there to say about the world again for Ridley Scott, who’s had plenty of hits and misses for people in the last few years and has spun the block on his classic hit starring Paul Mescal as Lucius “Hanno” Verus, the little boy from the first film grown up now in the same situation as Maximus was and Denzel Washington as Macrinus, a man who takes getting it out of the mud to a new level. We also have Pedro Pascal as Marcus Acacius, returning Connie Nielsen as Lucilla, Joseph Quinn as Emperor Geta, and Fred Hechinger as Emperor Caracalla, all significant characters in this epic.
Here, Lucius, or Hanno as he goes by as an adult, was sent away from Rome and grew up not as a Prince but as a more modest person in North Africa and when Pascal’s Acacius leads an army to take the city-state of Numidia and Hanno’s wife is killed in battle as heis then taken into slavery and of course, made into a Gladiator. His only goal is to get revenge on Acacius, a man who tires of the useless conflicts Brother Emperors Caracalla and Geta send him on as life in Rome and the empire gets worse and worse for the people and the dream of Rome that Marcus Aurelius had in the first film. The film delves into the politics and soap opera here. We see Acacius, Lucilla’s current husband, as they both work to bring Rome back to being a republic like her father wanted. In all this, there is Washington’s Macrinus, who, through his money and manipulation, is trying to take control of Rome for himself, from slave to shadow emperor, using Lucius’ successes in the Coliseum as his way through the power structure of Rome with only Lucius standing his way as well as the spirit of Maximus.
Please don’t go into this film expecting correct Roman history because that’s not the point, and it was never the point. Scott and screenwriter David Scarpa use this story to blatantly talk about modern-day politics with broad brush strokes that even a third-grader should understand. The action set pieces of the battles are great, even with all the VFX-created animals and water battles. The fight choreography is on point, as the fights and battles are thrilling to watch—the right amount of brutality and, at times, surprising gore here. While Mescal is very good here, and I’d say it matches the level of pathos that Crowe brought to Maximus in the first film, this film is wholly overtaken by Denzel Washington.
The amount of acting flexing going on the screen here is titanic. This is Training Day Denzel here. He knows he’s playing a villain, one that could be cartoonish in another actor’s hands, but with Denzel, it’s perfectly pitched. All the charm is on display, the line delivery, the laughs, the viciousness – you might kind of want him to win when it’s in the third act. He lifts all scenes and makes every other conflict redundant and boring to watch. Gladiator II is Denzel’s film, even more so than Ridley Scott. I don’t see how he doesn’t get nominated for acting awards this upcoming season, and it’s worth going to the theaters for this alone. Gladiator II is a big, brawny, and sprawling epic film that should make a lot of audiences happy with action and just the right amount of drama and theme. This should be a good time for movie theaters this weekend, and maybe we could have a mini Barbenheimer weekend, hopefully.
Score: B+
