Gladiator II (2024)

Dir: Ridley Scott

Cast: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington

While I was somewhat entertained by the bombastic action set pieces, Ridley Scott’s long-awaited sequel lacks the emotional weight that made the first film so iconic

Having recently discussed iconic veteran directors such as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood for my review of the latter’s “Juror #2”, I feel as if I let myself down by not mentioning the legendary director that is Ridley Scott. The 87-year-old is as prolific as ever despite his age, having directed four films since 2021 alone. While his consistency has started to wane over the past decade or so, there is no denying the hunger and desire the “Alien” creator still possesses at this very late stage in his career.

Scott’s latest directorial effort is one that has been almost 25 years in the making, the long-awaited sequel to the much beloved historical drama, “Gladiator”. Despite a very troubled production, plagued with constant rewrites, casting changes and reshoots, the Roman epic has proved to be one of the director’s most cherished films, grossing over four times its budget at the global box-office, as well as amassing an impressive twelve Academy Award nominations, winning five including Best Picture and Lead Actor for Maximus himself, Russell Crowe. While like most critics, my feelings are mostly lukewarm towards the film, there is no denying the physicality and emotional depth Crowe brought to the central character, with the movie’s heart rendering emotional beats ultimately being what won over audiences worldwide.

Over the past 24 years, there has been plenty of speculation regarding Scott returning to make a sequel, with several screenplays being drafted to continue Maximus’ story despite his death at the climax of the first film. In 2006, Crowe himself wanted to bring Maximus back through a more fantastical narrative focusing on the Roman beliefs of the afterlife, whereas producers at Dreamworks wanted to shift focus to Lucius, the son of Maximus and Lucilla. One alternative story that was pitched to the studio came from the unlikely source of Australian musician Nick Cave, who was commissioned to write a new draft of the script. Written under the working title of “Christ Killer”. The story involved a resurrected and immortal Maximus, now a warrior for the Roman gods, tasked with ending Christianity by killing Jesus and his disciples. The script was rejected and scrapped after Spielberg, who had consulted on the original film, believed that Cave had written something “too grand” for the big screen.

Now in 2024, we can see that producers have gotten their vision realised with screenwriter David Scarpa siding with the stories conceived by the producers almost two decades earlier. Sixteen years on from the events of the first film, Rome is ruled by the corrupt twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). Lucius (Paul Mescal), known by the alias Hanno, serves the African kingdom of Numidia alongside his wife Arishat (Yuval Gonen), and when invaded and conqured by the Roman army, led by General Acacius (Pedro Pascal), Arishat is killed and Lucius enslaved. Lucius along with his fellow slaves are pitted against feral baboons to advertise themselves as potential gladiators, and after impressing stable master Macrinus (Denzel Washington), Lucius is hired by the latter to be his personal gladiator, with promises of seeking revenge against Acacius in return for winning enough fights in Rome.

Meanwhile, having returned a war hero, a disillusioned Acacius conspires with his wife Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) in conspiring against the tyrannical emperors by overthrowing them and restoring the Roman Republic. As Lucius continues to be victorious in the Colosseum, Macrinus plots his own attempt to take over from the emperors by playing them against each other, as well as Acacius and Lucilla, whose conspiracy is blown by one of the members of the senate as a result of his financial debt to Macrinus.

What made the original “Gladiator” such a huge success was the balance of compelling character drama with the spectacle of the gladiatorial fights. The gloriously bloody action scenes never felt out of place in a surprisingly grounded drama piece, despite a rather melodramatic narrative involving treachery, deceit and revenge. “Gladiator II”, unfortunately falls victim to the classic sequel bait of believing more is better, upping the ante with its fight scenes, resulting in a number of over the top set pieces. There is of course the aforementioned CGI baboons, that appear more space opera than historical epic, then there is a gladiator straddling a rhino into battle, and an inconceivable naval battle, with an abundance of cinema’s deadliest fish occupying the water that has somehow flooded the Colosseum. While I did find myself captivated for the most part by the action, their lack of believability did take me out of the story at times. I am no history buff, and I don’t demand much in terms of realism or accuracy from my historical epic, but in this case I think Scott and Scarpa find themselves quite literally jumping the shark.

While the VFX may not hold up quite so well when compared to other modern blockbusters, there is no denying Scott and his ability to recreate worlds from the ground up. Scott has done this impressively throughout his career, whether it be a period or science-fiction piece. In fact, Scott hardly seems to direct contemporary movies, with “The Counselor” being his most recent back in 2013. The sheer scale of the production in “Gladiator II” is breath-taking, when the screen is not overwhelmed with CGI, we can see the meticulous level of craft that has gone into to recreating this pivotal moment in Roman history. During Hollywood’s golden age, the Romans, alongside biblical tales, were a constant source of inspiration, with many large scale productions depicting chariot races, centurion guards and the lavish lifestyle of those in power. However, as the years went by this subgenre of historical epic became less in demand, until being revitalised by “Gladiator” at the turn of a new millennium. While this revival was short lived, Scott has once again managed to capture the essence of the old school Roman epic that has wowed audiences since the dawn of cinema.

With Crowe not returning to the series, the weight of the film’s success lies on the freshly muscular shoulders of Mescal, one of the most sought after young talents in the industry. Having broken through off the back of a number of grounded, character dramas, such as “Normal People”, “Aftersun” and “All of Us Strangers”, Mescal has found himself leading an impressive ensemble in by far the biggest production of his career. Due to the clear similarities in their characters, naturally there have been unfavourable comparisons between Mescal and Crowe’s performances. Personally, I feel Mescal excels in the role physically, potentially more so than his predecessor, however, he is let down by the muddled script handed to him by Scarpa. Mescal gives it his all on screen but ultimately his character, Lucius, undergoes an unnecessarily convoluted character arc that does not deliver on the initial moral dilemma it sets up. Following the death of his wife at the behest of Acacius and his army, Lucius’ primary motive is that of revenge. It is this heaped up, inner rage that initially proves to be key to Lucius’ efforts at being a victorious gladiator, despite forewarning by a fellow slave that it may lead to him forgetting who he really is, leaving behind those he has lost. Following his reclamation of his Roman heritage, Lucius’ motive suddenly becomes that of ushering in a new Roman Republic, seemingly forgetting about his murdered wife. These conflicting character arcs could have led to a juicy internal conflict as Lucius struggles to settle on one identity, instead he appears to brush one aside like nothing, removing all emotional weight from his character in the process.

The real star of “Gladiator II”, is without question Denzel Washington as flamboyant gladiator dealer Macrinus. The veteran actor dominates every scene in which he appears and his narrative, along with Acacius’ I found far more engaging than our central protagonist. The ensemble on the whole is pretty solid, although I have started to question some casting choices by Scott and his casting director in recent years. Three years ago we got the painful and cartoonish Italian stereotype portrayal of Paolo Gucci by Jared Leto in “House of Gucci”, not to mention the out of place inclusions of British comedians Miles Jupp and Kevin Eldon in last year’s “Napoleon”. This time round, I continuously found myself distracted by another British comedian, Matt Lucas, who appears on multiple occasions as the Colosseum’s master of ceremonies. A tonally jarring and overtly campy performance that seems to be more in keeping with Francis Ford Coppola‘s absurd Roman love letter “Megalopolis”.

Despite being nearly a quarter of a century in the making, Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” proves that bigger is not always better. While it does showcase some great performances, engaging fight set-pieces and cunning plots of villainy and deceit, it ultimately fails where the original was at its strongest, its emotional core. There are already talks of a follow up to come, hopefully Scott and Scarpa can prove me wrong with a potential third instalment.

Gladiator II is now showing in cinemas

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