Legacy and fate take centre stage in Gladiator II, the long-awaited sequel that features Ridley Scott in fine form and Denzel Washington at his electrifying best, as the arenas of the senate and the colosseum clash to epic bloody results.
“Are you not entertained?!” was one of the infamous quotes from the first Gladiator movie, and if that is the criteria then Gladiator II delivers.
Featuring the return of original Gladiator director Ridley Scott, Gladiator II is a legacy sequel that is never able to free itself from the looming shadow of its predecessor yet is also better than most sword-and-sandals movies released since then.
A big reason why Gladiator II is not able to create its own space is lead actor Paul Mescal, who while delivering a muscular performance isn’t quite able to replicate the kind of star making turn that Russell Crowe did 24 years prior. It is a high bar, yes, but such is the challenge when taking on the lead role in a sequel with blockbuster and awards-race aspirations.
Mescal stars as Lucuis “Hanno” Verus (played by Spencer Treat Clark in the original), the banished son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and legendary general turned gladiator Maximum Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) who finds himself back in Rome as a gladiator under the charge of the aspirational and cunning Macrinus (Denzel Washington).
With Rome now ruled by ruthless twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), Lucius seeks to fight against the corruption of his once home and make reality his father’s dream of a free and prosperous Rome.
True to Scott’s filmmaking nature the visuals of Gladiator II are epic in scope and size, the production design by Arthur Max (The Martian) and cinematography from John Mathieson (Logan) bringing ancient Rome to life. Countering this, though, is some sketchy VFX work during the Colosseum battle sequences in which baboons and rhinos and sharks (oh my!) seem a rendering short of completion.
Where the first Gladiator expertly presented the battles in the Colosseum and the Roman Senate with equal high-stakes thrills, Gladiator II works best when focused on the Machiavellian scheming of Macrinus.
Part of this, of course, comes down to the great writing by David Scarpa (All the Money in the World), yet the real champion of Gladiator II is Denzel Washington who in his second film with Ridley Scott delivers a scene stealing – if not indeed movie saving – performance that presents the two-time Oscar winner’s ability to play a cruel and cunningly intelligent politician who is as charismatic as he is deceptive.
Sequels are indeed a hard task for any filmmaker to pull off, and Scott most definitely had his work cut out for him in following up one of his best films in Gladiator. Yet while Gladiator II will not stand alone as a classic in its own right, there is much to like in this sequel 24-years in the making.
