If you'd asked me to name a movie that was desperate for a sequel, I would never never have said Ridley Scott's Gladiator. The legend of Maximus Decimus Meridius was as near-perfect as you could get, a self-contained story that ends with the death of its main character. Regardless, after 24 years, Scott decided to come back and make a sequel anyway, for better or worse.
Gladiator II follows Lucius, a character who was just a boy during the events of the first movie. The child of Maximus and Lucilla, Lucius has a claim to be emperor and is sent away for his own safety. Living in Africa under the name Hanno, an invading Roman army kills his wife, sells him as a gladiator, and starts him on a quest for revenge against the man responsible. While he's at it, he tries to free Rome from the tyranny and corruption of the emperors and restore power to the people.
If this sounds familiar, it is. While it's not exactly a remake, Gladiator II is a close copy of the original movie, with a few new elements added in to balance things out.
The fact this is a story that's been told many times before means you can't really go wrong with it: a man out for revenge with just one single purpose on his mind, willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal, no longer caring for his own life. It's simple stuff, mixed in with plenty of action, all done well. Scott's been doing this for so long that he knows how to point a camera at something and make it look amazing. As you'd imagine, Gladiator II tries to go bigger than its predecessor, with horror-inspired demon baboon attacks, an epic ship-to-ship battle, and lots of swordfights. There's always something around the corner to keep your attention.
The acting in Gladiator II is uneven
While all the action is fine, it amounts to nothing without good characters, and good characters can only come from good acting. Things are thinner on the ground here. Paul Mescal is fine as Hanno, not exactly a complex character and lacking the power of Russell Crowe, but a good revenge-seeking protagonist nonetheless. Connie Nielsen returns as Lucilla, filling in her role from two decades ago easily enough, while Pedro Pascal is certainly in the movie. Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, on the other hand, seem to have wandered onto the wrong set. Their performances as emperors Geta and Caracalla are so over the top and hammed up that they take you out of the movie, and make you think you're in a Monty Python sketch. There's none of the menace of Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus from the original film; they are just there to be laughed at.
Luckily, Denzel Washington is there to save things. He plays probably the most well-developed character, and is certainly the best actor onscreen. At first I thought he was just another guy out to make money from training gladiators, until he put his plan into action to take over Rome; he surprised me once or twice with how ruthless he could be. He's clearly far stronger than any of the muscle-bound fighters, pretty much carrying this movie by himself.
The funny thing about this movie is that it didn't need to be a Gladiator sequel to work. The connection to the first movie is slim and contrived, relying on a huge amount of convenience to get the characters and events to line up just right. I don't think anyone was excited to hear more of Lucius' story, and a standalone film could have worked just as well. As it is, you have to compare it to Gladiator, and it lacks that movie's heart: the protagonist's love for his family which drives him to seek revenge.
At times there's a feeling that Scott wants to make the story bigger than these characters, to aim for something on the level of Spartacus; considering he's already planning for a third movie, he might get to do that, box office permitting, but there's nothing in this film that suggests it could lead to bigger things.
Gladiator II is no match for Gladiator, but still fun
Maybe it's because there are so many bad sequels made now, or the fact that this comes from the director of Prometheus, but I approached Gladiator II with a lot of caution, thinking it might be a huge disappointment, and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. To be clear, at no point does it match the original, except perhaps in terms of spectacle. But at least there's nothing here to spoil the legacy of its ancestor. I stand by the statement that the original movie never needed a sequel, but what we get here is a movie that feels like it's looking back at Gladiator with a certain respect. It's calling back to it with reused quotes and references to Maximus as a legendary figure, paying homage to all the famous bits from that movie.
It's the kind of sequel that takes a step back, not forward, but it's interesting to watch and makes a change from the usual kinds of blockbusters on offer today. If Maximus was to ask me, then I would say yes, I am entertained.
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