Movie: “Gladiator II”
Release Date: Nov. 22, 2024
Director: Ridley Scott
Runtime: 2 hours, 28 minutes
Genre: Drama/Action
Rating: C-
The latest release from director Ridley Scott’s seemingly endless assembly line, “Gladiator II” is well-produced, soulless and self-indulgent. A few entertaining performances and some fun spectacles ensure that “Gladiator II,” though deeply mediocre, usually isn’t boring.
The film’s opening credits unfold over animated sketches that vaguely recap the acclaimed original. The montage is well done and engaging, especially for fans of the first film. It’s also about as creative as things get. “Gladiator II” is to “Gladiator” what “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Jurassic World” are to their predecessors: a half-sequel, half-remake that tries to have the best of both worlds but instead stumbles into an awkward blend of Hollywood’s laziest tendencies.
The story follows Hanno (Paul Mescal), a prisoner of war turned gladiator, who is eager for revenge against Acacius (Pedro Pascal), the Roman general who led the brutal conquest of Hanno’s home. While Hanno fights in the Colosseum, Acacius and his wife Lucilla, played by returning actress Connie Nielsen, navigate Rome's political arena.
Acacius and Lucilla secretly plot to overthrow the tyrannical twin emperors, Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), who are more focused on entertaining themselves than saving their crumbling empire. The ending of the original, where Maximus (Russell Crowe) died as a martyr in the arena, is reduced to seemingly mean nothing.
Character development isn’t something “Gladiator II” is concerned with. Most characters are static, but if the plot does require one to change, they’ll turn on a dime.
Mescal, who has made the jump to big-budget action following his Oscar-nominated role in 2022’s “Aftersun,” does his best to bring a dull character to life. Hanno serves the plot, though adds little else to the film. The same can be said for Pascal's and Nielsen's characters.
There is a twist involving Hanno’s mysterious past, albeit an obvious one. Anyone who’s seen “Gladiator” or this movie’s trailer can expect the twist from the start. For viewers going in blind, however, “Gladiator II” uses several flashbacks and close-ups to beat the audience over the head with the “revelation” even harder than the gladiators beat their opponents.
Speaking of gladiatorial combat, the action scenes are actually one of the film’s greatest strengths. The fights are visceral, gory and extremely over the top. Featuring violent monkeys, a rhino, ships, arrows and swords, the battles are nonsense, but the good kind of nonsense.
Some of Hanno’s scenes are improved by the presence of Ravi (Alexander Karim), a former gladiator who stayed in Rome and became a doctor for wounded fighters. Ravi guides Hanno and builds a friendship with him as the story progresses.
Right on cue, those scenes are occasionally undercut by shoddy CGI. The film’s visuals are the definition of a mixed bag. For every stunning shot of North Africa and a wonderfully realized Ancient Rome, we also get sharks swimming around a flooded Colosseum that wouldn’t look out of place in a “Sharknado” film. Moments like these call into question where the $200 million budget went.
Some of the money undoubtedly went to the salary of Denzel Washington, who earns it with an excellently villainous performance as Macrinus, a manipulative and cunning man and Hanno’s unwanted mentor with plans to take control of Roman politics. Washington injects “Gladiator II” with desperately needed humor and is the best part of nearly every scene he appears in. Unfortunately, Ridley Scott realized that and overused Washington’s engaging performance as a crutch to prop up an otherwise largely uninteresting plot and characters.
The young emperors Geta and Caracalla are also played with spirit by Joesph Quinn and Fred Hechinger. It’s entertaining to watch characters such as Acacius tiptoe around their madness, though as their scenes and the plot as a whole become increasingly predictable, the effectiveness is dulled.
The connections between the original film and “Gladiator II” feel superficial. Past events seem to only have an impact when it’s convenient to push the new film’s plot along. This movie will likely play better with viewers who haven’t seen “Gladiator.” Would the wild canceled version that would have focused on Russell Crowe trying to kill Roman gods and coming back from the dead have been better? Who's to say, but it definitely would have been different.
“Gladiator II” is adequate. It has a decent musical score, suitable cinematography and effective though workmanlike direction and design. The film is saved by moments of standout action and acting that make its long runtime feel relatively brisk.
It’s difficult to strongly recommend “Gladiator II” in a crowded holiday lineup, but it’s far from the worst option. As it stands, it's a somewhat painfully derivative but enjoyable enough experience at the movies. Maybe the planned “GladIIIator” will bring something new to the table for relatively unimpressed viewers.