December 2, 2024 · Watch the official trailer
With Hollywood’s insistence on revitalizing franchises and other important intellectual property, it’s somewhat shocking that audiences haven’t seen a sequel to a Best Picture winner in decades, the “Rocky” franchise notwithstanding.
Since 2001, shortly after his “Gladiator” won the prize, director Ridley Scott has been engaged in the prospects of continuing his tales of ancient Rome despite the bloody outcomes of his Oscar winner.
More than two decades later – and in large part thanks to nostalgia and technological advancements – Scott takes viewers back to the times of emperors and slaves with his “Gladiator II,” which arrived with much anticipation amid a somewhat secondary status to the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical “Wicked” also releasing Thanksgiving week.
The epic action-adventure sequel finds Paul Mescal’s Lucius seeking revenge for the invasion of his home by Roman troops led by General Acacius by fighting as a gladiator and facing remnants of his mysterious past.
“Gladiator II” is surprisingly somehow both a major improvement and massive disappointment compared to the original film with improved storytelling and an iconic supporting performance boosting an over-indulgent, largely unnecessary sequel.
Behind the camera, Scott is a much more compelling director here, utilizing advancements in cinema to maintain the brutality of gladiatorial combat in sustained shots as opposed to strangely cutting away to obscure the violence at play in the original.
Battles where Lucius is fighting one-on-one are among the very best sequences in either film, although the insistence of disrupting viewers’ suspension of disbelief with overtly saturated massive rhinoceros, sharks and baboons takes away all of the emotion audiences held watching Russell Crowe fight for his life 20 years ago. There’s also a pervading sense of computer-generated enhancements to shots in the film that don’t necessarily need it and at times, viewers can see the actors struggling to act against a green screen.
Mescal is convincing as Lucius with Mescal aiming to differentiate himself from Crowe as the viewers’ stand in though the stoicism he relies heavily on does make it hard to get behind his character outside of battle when it’s clear that Lucius is only one cog in a much larger machine that Scott seeks to examine over nearly two-and-a-half hours.
As one might expect from the best actor of his generation, Denzel Washington chews up all the scenery with a magnetism that elevates the film as a whole. His Shakespearean background and natural charisma allows Washington to infuse Macrinus with gravitas and texture far beyond the scripted words to create a character that relishes mischief bordering on mania while also being so engaging that viewers may find themselves rooting against Scott’s preferred heroes.
A far more compelling film in this world would follow Washington’s Macrinus parade around Rome conniving his way into power and it would be largely surprising if the two-time Oscar winner did not receive a nomination for Best Supporting Actor here.
“The Mandalorian” star Pedro Pascal is underutilized here in a strange side quest with Connie Britton returning from the original “Gladiator” as Lucilla that makes sense only in relation to the original film and a more streamlined, sensible movie probably leaves his character out entirely.
Given the critical success of the first film, it’s understandable why some may pencil in “Gladiator II” for a best picture nomination as well, but the film’s meandering and over-emphasis on spectacle may push it out of contention entirely with only Washington as a likely frontrunner come awards season.
A film that becomes blood-sport ideology strangely enough while decrying the same bloodlust, “Gladiator II” has elements of grandeur and largely misses the mark by overextending the plot machinations in ways people lament Marvel films for losing their way and exceeding the bounds of the narrative.
Yet as his “Napoleon” also proved, Scott would rather do too much than not enough.
Cinephiles may still want to head to cinemas to catch the pageantry and brutality of Scott’s Rome on the biggest screen possible, though only Washington and certain segments of “Gladiator II” are worthy of acclaim.
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