Gladiator II (2024)

While it's true that it may seem a bit too little too late when considering a sequel nowadays to Gladiator, there were a number of factors that could allow viewers some small sense of optimism. Ridley Scott back at the helm, and a cast including some hot stars of the moment, and a couple of people returning from the first film.

I couldn't really say whether or not that optimism ends up misplaced. Gladiator II is decent enough, there are some fun set-pieces and the focus is much more on the political scheming of one main character, but it pales in comparison to the 2000 movie that it is following. Maybe my opinion was tinged by watching both one after another, but what was I supposed to do when I wanted an excuse to work out my sound system while wearing a home-made toga (aka knotted bedsheet)?

Paul Mescal plays our hero this time around, a young man thrown into bloody battles after he has been enslaved during a Roman conquest of his home, in a sequence that shows him yearning for revenge after the death of someone very close to him. Pedro Pascal is General Acacius, the man who was at the head of that Roman horde, although we soon learn that he is weary of doing the bidding of Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), two twisted souls who seem to be leading Rome further and further way from the glory of what it once was. Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) is still trying to stay safe while positioned very close to the rulers, and there's a man named Macrinus (Denzel Washington) who will twist and turn around everyone I have just mentioned as he figures out a way to get himself into a position of great power.

Springboarding directly from the original movie, David Scarpa's screenplay does everything that everyone involved must have decided it needed. That's a bit sad, because what it apparently needed was plenty of callbacks to the first film, some unnecessary ret-conning that paints one or two people in an annoyingly different light, and fights that are all about entertainment and spectacle ahead of any sense of plausibility. Fair play though, the fights worked for me, but I can see why some would hate one or two of them.

As much as I like Mescal, and as good as he is here, he isn't quite good enough. There's some steely core missing, and he's not helped by the fact that the script doesn't give him much to work with. The same can be said about Pascal, another actor I tend to really like in the right roles. Washington gets much more to say and do, which at least makes everything easier to accept and enjoy as he steals scene after scene, and both Quinn and Hechinger are a lot of fun delivering a double dose of oddness (even if it feels a bit like someone went "Gladiator had one evil Emperor so we'll be twice as good because we'll have TWO!"). As for Nielsen. She's arguably more wasted than both of her male co-stars, and her journey, still intertwined with that of Gracchus (played again by Derek Jacobi), feels almost laughably overstuffed with coincidence and misfortune. 

None of the dialogue stands out this time around, apart from the lines that will make you either groan or laugh, the main arc for our hero feels more like a clumsy scribble than a satisfying straight line, and a bit too much obvious CGI gives it that problem that many other modern blockbusters have: a feeling of weightlessness and everything being of less consequence because so much of it is made up of computer programming. Sorry to sound needlessly snippy, but even the score from Harry Gregson-Williams fails to come close to the soaring Hans Zimmer music from the first film. 

Did I enjoy this while it was on? Yes. Did I feel the 148-minute runtime? Also yes. Will I rewatch this? Probably. Will I rewatch the original film ahead of this? Absolutely. That remains a bit of a modern classic. This is mildly diverting fun that may well be forgotten in a year or two (much like that sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon . . . remember when that happened?)

6/10

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Prime Time: Gladiator (2000)

It all seems so obviously destined for success now. An action epic directed by Ridley Scott. A lead role for Russell Crowe. Joaquin Phoenix as the second main character. Support from the likes of Connie Nielsen, Djimon Hounsou, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, and Derek Jacobi, as well as numerous other familiar faces. Fantastic practical effects enhanced by some top-notch CGI. Gladiator was a huge success when it was released, but it's worth remembering that it was actually considered quite a gamble, especially because the "sword and sandals" movie seemed to be a thing of the past (or, more accurately, a thing now just used to fill up the schedule on the SyFy Channel).

But it's hard to find people who hate it, and, while it may not be a film that many have rushed to revisit in recent years, it's been able to retain a place in our collective consciousness thanks to some memorable lines of dialogue and a rich and full-bodied Hans Zimmer score.

Crowe is Maximus, a successful military man who does his best in the service of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), but his situation changes drastically when the Emperor dies, to be succeeded by his son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). His life ruined, although somehow not ended, Maximus ends up enslaved, which leads him to be pitted against others in fighting competitions. Showing a knack for combat tactics, as well as self-preservation, Maximus is soon on his way to becoming a bit of a celebrity on the gladiator world, a violent system that could lead to his freedom. Maybe he doesn't need his freedom though. Maybe he just wants another chance to be within sword-slashing distance of Commodus.

Starting with a grand battle scene before moving into a series of more personal fights, Gladiator is a genuine crowd-pleaser that works all the better for having no trace of concern about the whole thing being a mish-mash of familiar elements and top-quality ham. The fact is that everyone commits to their roles, as well as to the tone of the material, and they enjoy the ham with such lip-smacking relish that it becomes absolutely glorious. The script, written by David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson, helps with a good selection of great lines of dialogue, and Scott does all he can to ensure that the 155-minute runtime practically passes by like a light breeze through the fields of Elysium.

Crowe has rarely been better, giving a performance that puts his character in strong contention for a place in the cinematic heroes hall of fame, and I would say something similar about Phoenix, especially when we all know that a good hero needs a good villain to make the whole thing worthwhile. Harris is effective in his brief supporting turn, Oliver Reed livens up a character, a trader/gladiator trainer named Proximo, that could easily have been left to fade into the background, and Djimon Hounsou is one of two other main gladiators onscreen that we get to stay invested in throughout. Connie Nielsen has to repeat lines about living in fear a bit too often, but she also does well enough to be memorable in her role (Lucilla, sister of Commodus), and Derek Jacobi, David Schofield, John Shrapnel, Tomas Arana, David Hemmings, and Tommy Flanagan are all uniformly excellent in their respective roles.

Brilliantly bombastic, full of spectacle without feeling overstuffed or overdone, and reworking the essence of classic epics into something that somehow feels both comfortingly old-fashioned and enjoyably updated, Gladiator is superior blockbuster fare. And if you are watching it with anyone who hasn't seen it before then you get the added pleasure of jumping up while the end credits roll and shouting "are you not entertained?"

9/10

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