Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II largely follows the drumbeats of its predecessor from 2000. It’s almost the same movie, but with different leads, better visuals, spiffier effects, and more immersive action.
Lucius (Paul Mescal), the illegitimate son of Maximus (Russel Crowe) and Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), is unknowingly following in his father’s footsteps. Sold as a slave to the cunning dealer Macrinus (Denzel Washington), Lucius finds himself in the very same Colosseum where Maximus died after killing the cruel emperor Commodus 14 years ago.
Despite Maximus’s sacrifice, Ancient Rome has barely changed. It’s still yearning for freedom from a pliant senate and is ruled by tyrants – a pair of them, in fact. Gladiator II takes its title quite seriously. Just like the general-turned-slave Maximus is reflected in both Lucius and the military hero Acacius (Pedro Pascal), Commodus has been reincarnated in the twisted twins Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger).
Fond of chalk-white make-up and debauchery, the brothers are running Rome into the ground. Like Maximus before him, Lucius finds himself in the unlikely role of Rome’s liberator.
The echoing of previously explored – and more emotionally resonant – themes is loud in a sequel that wasn’t quite required and yet pulls out all stops to justify itself. Ridley Scott brings his typical panache to the 148-minute movie, meshing sweeping spectacle and gorgeous production design with intimate interactions between key characters.
Lucius battles baboons and a rhino-led chariot as he tries to conquer Rome’s bloodthirsty masses in the thrillingly choreographed Colosseum scenes. Fast-paced and seething with intrigue, the 148-minute movie lets up only towards the unwieldy climax.
Although some of the recurring characters, including Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi as Senator Gracchus, have little to do, the new actors are at home in the sword-and-sandal universe. Indie breakout star Paul Mescal could not have asked for a better platform to storm into the mainstream. A buffed-up Mescal brings rough-hewn physicality and sincerity to his role, although he can’t match Russel Crowe’s effortless gravitas.
Pedro Pascal is a charmer, while Denzel Washington is wonderfully slinky as the mysterious Macrinus. As Rome’s perverse rulers, Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger supply campy moments and fleeting humour. The secondary characters include Swedish actor Alexander Karim as Ravi, a doctor originally from Varanasi who tends to Lucius’s wounds and forms a bond with the beskirted hunk.
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