MOVIE REVIEW: Gladiator II

Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures

GLADIATOR II– 3 STARS

Celebrated soon-to-be-87-year-old filmmaker Ridley Scott knows the game of Hollywood. Major studios have been living high on the hog from legacy sequels for the better part the last two decades. They’ll blow the dust off just about anything if there’s an eager audience and a pulse of earning potential. Scott has watched his own Blade Runner turn into Blade Runner 2049 and blew his own dust off of Alien to make the legacy prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Surely, all Ridley had to do was whisper “Gladiator II” in an exec’s ear to make neck hair stand up and cash registers ding.

It was not that simple. Truth be told, Ridley Scott’s been circling the central idea for a sequel since a finished script arrived in 2003. The iron to strike then could not have been hotter. Gladiator wasn’t a niche cult classic like Blade Runner or a genre cornerstone like Alien. Gladiator was the classically gilded Academy Award winner for Best Picture that signaled colossal Hollywood epics were back en vogue. That turned out to be a different karat of gold to mine, where scrapped scripts and the sale of DreamWorks Pictures to Paramount led to years of developmental hell. An immediate sequel faded, was shelved, and resuscitated before the pandemic to become the legacy one coming out with fervor now.  

LESSON #1: WHAT WARRANTS A NECESSARY LEGACY SEQUEL– However, we all know time is not always kind in this business of artistic endeavors. Not everything ages like a fine wine. When nearly a quarter-century has passed, one has to ask if Gladiator II is, frankly, necessary. The main question mark of justification is simple yet ominous, especially with how the original one definitively ended with Russell Crowe’s star-making and Oscar-winning hero carried out on his own shield. Is there a story to tell and is it worth telling? Ridley Scott seems to think so, and so does Paramount with $300 million worth of confidence.

Any creators approaching Gladiator II could have scooted a few decades and pages down in the encyclopedic books of the Roman Empire, but, like original story writer David Franzoni (Amistad), the new sequel stewards Peter Craig (Top Gun: Maverick) and David Scarpa (Napoleon) preferred to smudge history with dramatic license and lean on as much bankable familiarity as they could without Russell Crowe’s vaunted Maximus Decimus Meridius. Gladiator II is set a mere 16 years after his death and fatal defeat of Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). A vacuum of power led to what the opening crawl declared to be an era of “ruthless aggression.” Two haughty brothers– Geta (Joseph Quinn of A Quiet Place: Day One) and Caracalla (Thelma cast member Fred Hechinger)-- assumed power, clashed against the Senate, and ignored the previous bloodline survived by Commodus’s sister Lucilla (a returning Connie Nielsen) and her son Lucius Verus. 

Fearing for his safety as the true future prince of Rome, Lucilla sent her son away to live a secluded life in the North African land of Numidia. Fast-forward those 16 years and the well-heeled navy of the Roman Empire led by Lucilla’s new husband, General Marcus Acacius (The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal), arrives by sea to conquer Numidia where Lucius– using the alias of Hanno and played by Aftersun Oscar nominee Paul Mescal– is a trusted and highly-ranked commander alongside his warrior wife Arishat (newcomer Yuval Gonen). As a prisoner-of-war taken back across the Mediterranean Sea, Hanno flexes his fearless mettle and soldier’s might in the combative arena to capture the attention of the influential arms dealer Macrinus, played by the matchless Denzel Washington, who buys Hanno to train and showcase as a gladiator.

With those setting-establishing seeds and inciting events in place, Gladiator II cultivates many converging vines from there. The film not-so-meticulously and over a robust length of time weaves the gritty gladiatorial path of Hanno and his hidden birthright into the aristocratic political scene dominated by the vicious dual emperors and a growing secret plot engineered by Lucilla and the senior senators (including a returning Derek Jacobi) to depose them. The former arc is sternly brawny for brawniness’s sake and the latter tangent is overstuffed with wishy-washy portending and gaudy excesses. Rising to an advantageous place in the murky middle to work and profit from both sides is Denzel’s Macrinus. 

LESSON #2: STAND BACK AND LET HIM COOK– Without hesitation, the two-time Oscar winner turns Gladiator II into his own smorgasbord, quite frankly because he can. Despite noble sternness from Pablo Pascal and Connie Nielsen and the springboard vaulting the All of Us Strangers indie darling Paul Mescal to the mainstream stratosphere as an action star, Washington outclasses every actor he shares the screen with, again, quite frankly because he can. Primped to the highest degree possible by fellow Oscar winner Janty Yates’s lavish costumes, his grinning silver fox is working those draped togas and fashion jewelry rings to their fullest effect for a slick physical performance to enhance every one of his embellished lines that are soaked in snake oil and devious delight. Working every angle with a snarl to succeed and survive, Macrinus is the proper heavy this film sorely needed.

LESSON #3: RAGE VERSUS AMUSEMENT– If there’s an emotional throughline to Gladiator II it is the rage Macrinus yokes from Hanno/Lucius. The self-serving handler’s goal is to carry Hanno’s rage to audience-popping amusement, pugilistic greatness, and advancing his favor with the emperors. The imprisoned younger heir, labeled “The Barbarian,” clings to the visions of his wife and his determined hopes that this plight will not change his principles. However, the called-upon rage is what will keep him alive and get him closer to the targeted quarries of his revenge.

The obstacle course of outpouring rage leads to Gladiator II’s wild fight scenes and grand Coliseum-centered set pieces. Ridley Scott’s penchant for jugular blood and decapitations is serviced and satiated by Napoleon stunt coordinator Nikki Powell, fight coordinators Cali Nelle and Ray Nicholas, and the layering of visual effects supervised by The Creator’s Nick Corbould. Even when swords are not being swung, the pageantry is pumped up in all places. Like the glory of Rome itself, the action is both zanier and gaudier–if you can believe it– than the first film, paced by a strong musical score from Harry Gregson-Williams which calls back effectively every now and then to Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard’s original, ethereal cues. 

LESSON #4: EXCEEDED ONE’S LIMIT OF SOAP OPERA TWISTS– All of this violent vengeance easily overwhelms the more humane mythos of longing to see cherished family members again in the afterlife, the reunion of broken storge love, fondly remembering one’s heroes, and the goals of winning for the virtues of the commoners going on in Gladiator II. Blood, sweat, and sand bury those repeatedly. It took soap opera-esque twists to get here in the first place with the continuation of Lucilla and Lucius after the events of Gladiator. At the same time as they contorted historical accuracy, Craig and Scarpa pile on a greater amount of revelations, double crosses, and ancient paternity tests that would make Maury Povich blush on syndicated daytime television. Those overbaked and confounded conveniences were not necessary to dramatically revisit a successful legend such as this one, which already had adrenaline and spectacle on its side on its face value alone.

LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#1245)