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Gladiator II Movie Review

Gladiator II is a 2024 epic historical action film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington. It’s pretty much the same movie as the original one.

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“Strength and honor“

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After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people. First off, I have to say that I’m not the biggest fan of the first ‘Gladiator’ movie. It ranks among Scott’s most middling efforts. I certainly see its merits, but it has too many flaws for me to rank it among his best works. This sequel comes out 24 years after the original and it is pretty much of a similar quality with some aspects that are improved and some that are inferior.

My main issue with this sequel is the fact that it functions more as a remake than a genuine sequel – we get to see way too many flashbacks, callbacks and references to Maximus and his legacy. Those scenes to me weren’t moving at all, but lazy and manipulative instead. But the plot itself is pretty much a repeat of the first feature with some minor changes and additions of its own. Originality was in short supply here, but the fun factor was undeniably huge.

The main character is painfully tedious, being a pale imitation of Maximus. I like Paul Mescal personally and he was fine here. His looks fitted this time period and setting quite well. But let’s just say that Russell Crowe he is not. He lacked the charisma and screen presence of Crowe and his character arc was also inferior. Connie Nielsen, on the other hand, was quite memorable in a very moving role. I really liked their dynamic and the mystery unraveling about his origins at first, though eventually it all turned out to be quite clichéd. As for Pedro Pascal, I liked him quite a bit here and he was the most likable of the bunch, but clearly he was used way too sparingly and at an overly small capacity.

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Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn were quite believable as the twin rulers, but I am growing impatient with these epic movies always having these ridiculously over-the-top and incompetent kings and/ or princes. It seems to unrealistic for me, though obviously they made for some fun campiness.

Clearly the MVP of Gladiator II is Denzel Washington himself as the intriguingly conniving and devious Macrinus. This snake of a man scheming his way around Rome made for some highly entertaining scenarios. He’s the best villain in the whole franchise so far and Denzel obviously had a blast playing him. He was the right amount of theatrical and nuanced and he simply stole the show whenever he was on screen, triumphing over everyone else with ease.

This is a blockbuster movie first and foremost, so I could easily forgive it for all of its historical inaccuracies and lack of subtlety in dialogue, plot and characterization. The animal scenes (even including those sharks) were not as over-the-top as I’d expected, but just the right amount of deliciously campy and enjoyable. The arena scenes were hugely entertaining for me and the scheming was also a whole lot of fun.

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Visually, this was a clear improvement upon the dark, grainy and unappealing predecessor. Not only is the production design phenomenal with superb sets and costumes, but the VFX work is fantastic and the movie simply looked lavish. The cinematography is also pretty good and the sound is great. But sadly the score is quite weak this time around and I missed the moving and almost poetic quality of the original film’s music. I really disliked the ending with all those frustrating speeches, but thankfully the remainder of the movie was devoid of those annoyances.