The film begins with an animated retelling of the events of the original Gladiator, which heralds one of its most glaring errors: its inability to escape the shadow of Maximus. We follow Paul Mescal’s ‘Hanno’, which anyone who has seen the trailers knows is Lucius, the son of Lucilla and the grandson of Marcus Aurelius, the boy who idolises Maximus in the first film. Although Mescal has become one of my favourite actors of his generation, he struggles to capture the charisma and quiet stoicism of 2000s era Russel Crowe, instead coming across as placid and dull by comparison, which is all too easy due to the incessant use of flashbacks whenever the name of Maximus is invoked.
Although Ridley Scott is perhaps most commonly associated with intentionally egregious historical inaccuracies these days, I found the sharks in the colosseum and the reading of newspapers a millennia before the invention of the printing press an excusable way of heightening the tension and progressing the plot respectively, a small price to pay considering the creative liberties taken in the first film by nature of being alternate history. Predictably, the plot of Gladiator II borders on self-plagiarism, uninspiringly drawing on nearly all the same story beats as the first, with some key scenes and character deaths noticeably being mangled and cut short in the edit, I would assume to sell an extended edition somewhere down the line.
yet another legacy sequel that’s main motive is churning out cash for the Hollywood machine, and will not find itself living in eternity any time soon.
Some of the key diversions from the first film’s plot come from the machinations of Denzel Washington’s Macrinus, who although fulfilling the Oliver Reed role of being the buyer and seller of gladiators in Rome, outshines the rest of the cast and is absolutely electric to watch, chewing scenery in good fashion and keeping the plot fresh by vying for power in skin-crawling and eccentric ways. This in my opinion starkly contrasts with performances such as Pedro Pascal’s, who although delivering big on physicality in battle scenes and the much awaited showdown with Paul Mescal, delivers his lines in such a flat and uninspired manner that I found myself wondering if his time cashing in as the voice of The Mandalorian has diminished the presence and charisma he had in the days of Narcos and Game of Thrones.
One of the main disappointments I felt was the total lack of memorable quotes, instead choosing to parrot those from the first such as ‘strength and honour’ and ‘what we do in life echoes in eternity’ throughout. Any original quotes were so unrousing that it felt surprising the gladiators didn’t choose to stay in their cells when given the choice of freedom. Although the dialogue leaves much to desired, Ridley Scott absolutely delivers on the big-screen spectacle, the sheer scale of the warfare I feel has been unseen in any blockbuster in recent memory. The final battle in particular is perhaps what this film will be best remembered for, although it is soon squandered by an ending that is so out of place, sterile, and unimaginative it borders on simply being upsetting as a movie-goer. All in all, Gladiator II is yet another legacy sequel that’s main motive is churning out cash for the Hollywood machine, and will not find itself living in eternity any time soon.