Does every beloved movie from the last couple of decades need a sequel? I’d argue that they don’t, but if a director still has a story to tell then who am I to say he shouldn’t get a chance to tell it? Such is the case with Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, a follow up to the critically acclaimed Gladiator, released in the year 2000. Gladiator II yet again features a story of a warrior, dissatisfied with what Rome has become, captured and sold into slavery and eventually becoming a gladiator. Our titular gladiator this time is Lucius Verus II, played by Paul Mescal, son of Lucilla, played by Connie Nielsen, one of the only original actors returning from the first Gladiator.
Gladiator II is, first and foremost, a spectacle. It’s action-packed and frankly, it’s a ton of fun to watch all the action play out on screen. There are more fights and many of them are bigger, but does that mean they’re better? Not necessarily. One of the film’s early fights has Lucius fighting alongside other slaves against a handful of some truly awful looking CGI baboons; another fight features the Colosseum filled with water and ships so that the gladiators can simulate a naval battle.
The naval battle itself was impressive and it was nice to see the colosseum used in a way we haven’t seen before, but then you notice that there are sharks in the water. Actual Roman gladiators never had to contend with sharks, so why are there sharks here? Because it’s exciting and different and dangerous, that’s why. That line of thinking permeates throughout Gladiator II. Everything is a spectacle for the sake of being a spectacle, often masking the fact that the story here is lackluster and convoluted with little substance to back it up.
Every character in Gladiator II is playing their own game to achieve their own ends, and for the first half of the film it seems like all of the pieces in play are being set up to orchestrate an impressive, if tragic, payoff, which excited me as the film headed toward the halfway mark. Yet Gladiator II zigs when you expect it to zag and develops into a messy knot of politics, violence, retcons, vengeance, and continual reminders that, yes, this is indeed a sequel to the first Gladiator. I won’t spoil anything here but there are story elements set up to be sentimental callbacks to the first film, which is fine, in theory, but the audience is constantly reminded of these links in the back half of the movie, and overall it detracts from the journey that Lucius sets out on in the beginning of the film. All of the scheming involved was a lot of fun at first, but as more and more schemes and plans were revealed I began to grow tired of where this story was taking me.
As far as performances go, Mescal’s Lucius is captivating. He communicates Lucius’s rage, grief, and longing very well, both in the arena and outside of it. He has great chemistry with the rest of the cast, and he makes it very easy to root for him as the film goes on, story problems aside. Joseph Quinn, playing Geta, one of Rome’s unhinged emperors, is also a delight and walks the line between psychotic and cunning incredibly well. Only one other performance came close to being as enjoyable as Mescal’s and Quinn’s however: Denzel Washington as Macrinus, though at the same time I left the theater feeling slightly confused by the choices he made throughout the film. Every action he took or line he spoke, it felt like there should have been just a little more oomph to it, almost like he’d pull back at the last second of every line to make sure he wasn’t giving too great of a performance.
Everyone else in the film ranged from wooden to a cartoonish caricature, seeming only in place to serve the spectacle when the time came, with the most disappointing performance coming from the normally great Pedro Pascal. Nearly every line Pascal spoke seemed like he was reading it off a cue card just off-screen, with little to no emotion shown for most of the film. Perhaps the most baffling performance in Gladiator II was from Fred Hechinger as Geta’s brother Caracalla, Rome’s other unhinged emperor. If I am being honest, Herchinger’s presence actively harmed the film, with him giving a performance that felt like an inexperienced actor in a role that was given to them as a favor.
I realize that a lot of this review reads like I disliked the film, but I truthfully didn’t. Is it as good as the first Gladiator? Not by a long shot, but Gladiator II is action packed and exciting; a spectacle for an audience to turn their brains off and enjoy, much like the crowds populating the Colosseum in the film. The fights are choreographed well and they feel weighty, unafraid to show how brutal gladiator combat could be. All of this makes for a great action flick that will surely bring audiences to the theater, it’s just when you look closer that you end up seeing that Gladiator II is mostly style with minimal substance.
Score: 7/10
Gladiator II
Written & Directed by:
Release Date: November 22, 2024
Starring:
Rating: PG
Running Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
Synopsis: Elphaba, a misunderstood young woman because of her green skin, and Glinda, a popular girl, become friends at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. After an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads.
Official Website: Link
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