It’s been a quarter of a century since the original Gladiator hit cinema screens. The film, directed by Ridley Scott, achieved massive critical acclaim and earned nearly every award you could think of. It’s a cinematic classic (that I only watched recently. Plz don’t shoot me). But that story had a definitive end, with Maximus (Russel Crowe) and Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) dead. So when a sequel was announced nearly 25 years later, people were confused about how there could be a continuation, let alone after so long? Gladiator II has now been released into the wild, so we can finally know if this is a worthy follow-up to an all-time classic or another sequel cash-grab.
Gladiator II is set more than 20 years after the original, and Rome hasn’t improved. War is still raging, the people are still suffering, and this time, two power-hungry emperors are on the throne. Lucius (Paul Mescal), son of Maximus and Lucilla (Connie Nielson), has been living in Numidia with his wife, Arishat (Yuval Gonen), far away from the corruption of Rome. But his peace is short-lived when General Acacius (Pedro Pascal) conquers the city in the name of Rome, killing Arishat in the process. Defeated and sold into slavery, Lucius will have to fight his way to the Colosseum for a chance at revenge against those who have wronged him. However, something sinister occurs in the shadows that will impact not only Lucius’s fate but also the fate of Rome itself.
The story of Gladiator II will feel very familiar to those who’ve seen the original, as it hits a lot of the same story beats. Giant battle at the beginning, family is murdered, sold into slavery, fight for revenge. This describes the general plot progression of both films, but that isn’t to say the story wasn’t enjoyable; it still was. While similar, Gladiator II adds some new things, such as the slaver who buys Lucius, Macrinus (Denzel Washington), having a secret plot to take over. Or the relationship between Acacius and the emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). These add new and interesting dynamics to the somewhat repeated plot that help differentiate this film from its predecessor. But even without these additions, I still enjoyed this story because even though it’s very similar to the original, it’s still a good time.
The characters are where my biggest complaints with this film lie. Many of them don’t have any meaningful growth or development and only act or change when the plot needs it to. This is most prevalent with Lucius, who changes his opinions on things in between scenes with little to no explanation. In one scene, he’s screaming at someone to go away, and the next time they see each other, he wants to be besties with the same person. There is nothing that happens in between these two scenes that justifies this change, and it took me out of it a bit. Paul Mescal does a great job with what he was given and puts in a stellar performance; it’s just a shame the writing couldn’t have been better.
I have a similar problem with Acacius, but more so that he doesn’t really do anything besides the opening battle. It felt like his character was created just to get Pedro involved and get his name attached. I think there were so many directions his character could’ve gone, and they picked the least interesting one.
There were three characters that I really enjoyed, though, and I think they saved a lot of this film. The first is Macrinus, played by the amazing Denzel Washington. He stole every scene he was in with his charisma and sinister plots. His performance was by far my favourite of the film, and I especially liked how, in almost every scene, he’s wearing a different set of clothes for no real reason (drinking game, perhaps?)
The other two characters were the emperors Geta and Caracalla, who I might argue are better villains than Commodus in the original. They just have a different vibe to Commodus, and I think it works well here. I also enjoyed how they bounced off each other, with Geta being the more level-headed emperor and Caracalla having a few screws loose. It made for some tense moments that were some of the best in the film.
The original Gladiator was praised for its use of practical effects, with even the massive opening battle being done without any GCI. This is mostly true with Gladiator II, with a few exceptions. In terms of practical effects and sets, this film is gorgeous. Every location, from the streets of Rome to the Colosseum and even the island city of Numidia, looks fantastic. Every fight scene is also expertly choreographed and shot, making each fight look and feel legitimate. Unfortunately, this level of quality didn’t carry through the entire film, as a handful of moments looked pretty meh. For example, the CGI monkeys and sharks looked really out of place and took me out of the film a bit. I understand it wouldn’t be feasible to have actors fight actual animals and be safe doing so, but it just looked a bit off.
Another thing a bit off was the historical accuracy of the film. In the lead-up to release, many history buffs have claimed that Gladiator II isn’t historically accurate and is just Hollywood adding cinematic flare to history. Which, yeah, they totally did, but I think that’s fine. This film doesn’t set out to be a historically accurate commentary on Ancient Rome, but instead an action-packed romp with a fun story. Does it really matter if the type of rhino they have in the Colosseum isn’t the right kind? Or if they really had sharks in the Colosseum? Or that certain events didn’t happen just like they did in the history books? I don’t think it does, and if you know what you’re getting before watching it, you’ll forget all about those inaccuracies.
Gladiator II is a pretty good legacy sequel to the original Gladiator. While the plot follows a very similar structure, the new additions help to set it apart from its predecessor. While some characters like Lucius and Acacius feel underutilised, others like Macrinus and the emperors are a joy to watch every time they appear on screen. And while there is some dodgy CGI, the film still looks incredible. If you’re a fan of the original, you’ll enjoy the sequel, and if you haven’t seen the OG, you’ll have fun watching a relatively engaging blockbuster.
Have you seen Gladiator II? What did you think? Is it better than the original? Let us know in the comments where we can talk about all things Roman history.
