Gladiator II (2024, dir. Ridley Scott)

by Jack Martin | Nov 16, 2024

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 148 mins

UK Distributor: Paramount Pictures

UK Release Date: 15 November 2024

WHO’S IN GLADIATOR II?

Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Derek Jacobi, Tim McInnerny, Alexander Karim, Rory McCann, Alec Utgoff, May Calamawy, Lior Raz, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, Yuval Gonen

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Ridley Scott (director, producer), David Scarpa (writer), Lucy Fisher, David Franzoni, Michael Pruss and Douglas Wick (producers), Harry Gregson-Williams (composer), John Mathieson (cinematographer), Sam Restivo and Claire Simpson (editors)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

In the Roman Empire, a young gladiator (Mescal) becomes caught in the middle of a political scheme…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON GLADIATOR II?

In the twenty-four years it’s taken for Ridley Scott to make a sequel to his Oscar-winning epic Gladiator, the director has seen a number of highs (Black Hawk Down, The Martian, the criminally underrated The Last Duel), a lot of lows (Hannibal, Exodus: Gods and Kings, his woeful Gladiator-esque take on Robin Hood), and a whole load of “what the hell was he thinking?” (The Counsellor, House of Gucci, both of his wildly divisive Alien prequels).

In a lot of ways, Gladiator II contains a little bit of all three attributes from Scott’s post-Gladiator filmography. It is, at once, genuinely impressive in its craft and ambition; far less certain in parts of its storytelling; and at times completely and utterly deranged. But the whole time, it’s hard to not be entertained by the sheer spectacle you are witnessing, which for such a maverick filmmaker like Ridley Scott is all you could ever ask for.

The film takes place many years after the events of the first film, as the Roman Empire has succumbed to corruption and excess under the rule of twin Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), with the opening scene seeing their general Acacius (Pedro Pascal) successfully and brutally conquering the African city of Numidia. It is there where a young but fierce warrior named Hanno (Paul Mescal) witnesses the death of his wife Arishat (Yuval Gonen) at Acacius’s hand, before he is promptly captured and forced to become a gladiator under the watchful eye of former slave Macrinus (Denzel Washington). Unbeknownst to everyone, though, Hanno is actually Lucius Verus – the young boy from the first film – whose influential mother Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) is now involved with Acacius, which is unfortunate because Lucius desires sweet vengeance on her new man. All of this, incidentally, while Macrinus steadily puts into motion his own sinister plan to seize power over Rome, with Lucius as his most valuable piece of the puzzle.

Unlike the first film, which got by on a fairly straightforward plot, Gladiator II is a lot busier with much more happening throughout its narrative. Sometimes that can lead to some genuinely interesting conflict and characterisation, with more attention being given to certain characters who initially start off fairly villainous, only to reveal themselves as much more layered and even quite likeable. This in and of itself makes the central arc of Mescal’s Hanno/Lucius less of a hero’s journey and more of a walking symptom of what rage and vengeance can do to a wronged person, aspects of which are genuinely intriguing to watch unfold, partially because Mescal is such a compelling and commanding presence in a similar fashion to how Russell Crowe was in the first Gladiator. His Lucius, though, is probably the least interesting character in the entire ensemble, constantly drowned out by more memorable figures and the over-the-top nature of their performers, especially Denzel Washington who is having an utter blast chewing scenery like there’s no tomorrow.

However, the overly busy narrative can also make the film more than a little convoluted. The script by David Scarpa (who previously wrote both Napoleon and All the Money in the World for the director) attempts to juggle too many balls at once, and as a result the film becomes trickier to piece together as it continuously takes a number of turns that further complicate things that should, in essence, be extremely easy to resolve. Admittedly, Scarpa largely resist the urge to simply do the first film again – though in true legacy sequel fashion, the film drops numerous callbacks to certain lines and events from its predecessor – but in trying to do too much all at once, the overall story can get a bit too muddled in spite of the pure ambition at its core.

Though, much like the original Gladiator, we should be honest with ourselves: none of us are really going into Gladiator II for the plot. Its appeal continues to be that of Ridley Scott delivering the most bonkers set-pieces of his career filled with muscle-clad men armed with swords and spears going at each other like wild animals, and Gladiator II very much delivers on that promise. This is a film where one of the first major action sequences involves Paul Mescal fighting a horde of ravenous CGI baboons that look like they were cross-bred with the prototype Xenomorphs from the director’s Alien: Covenant, and then later he’ll be manning a ship in the middle of a flooded Colosseum as blood-hungry sharks are swimming in its depths, and somewhere in between all of that will be an enemy gladiator riding on the back of a rhinoceros that impales its enemies with its massive horn. And all the while, you have a pair of Emperors – one with a little monkey for a sidekick – gleefully cackling at every drop of blood in ways that make Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus look positively regal by comparison. It is utter madness, the kind that could only come from the imagination of a filmmaker with zero damns left to give when it comes to logic or even historical accuracy, and who just wants to make something that pleases the masses and gives them endless amounts of fun.

To that end, Scott’s direction is extremely energetic, perhaps the most he’s been in a decade or so. You can tell that the filmmaker is enjoying being back in this universe, the same way that Tim Burton clearly relished returning to the fantastical world of Beetlejuice earlier this year, since both are filmmakers with a singular vision working within a property that brings out the best of their unique styles. In this case, Scott blends pure epic spectacle with hammy melodrama to make a fascinating mix of exaggerated emotions, to where the film almost seems aware of its own silliness but admirably does not turn itself into a punchline, instead channelling its excessive nature into delivering the kind of old-fashioned peplum/sword-and-sandal picture that Scott no doubt has a major affinity towards. It helps that it is also an impeccably crafted vision of Ancient Rome, with some monumental production design and crisp cinematography capturing the grit and ferocity of every corner within the corrupt city. As a plus, the Rome in this movie has a lot more colour to it, compared to the much more drab and digitised vision from the original film (one of the few things I remember not liking that much about that movie).

Those who have been waiting nearly two-and-a-half decades for a sequel to Gladiator will certainly leave satisfied, as will many others who may not have even seen the original and are just on-board to watch plenty of mindless mayhem on the screen. Most of all, though, Gladiator II retains the crowd-pleasing fun of its predecessor, near-flawlessly delivering earnest blockbuster entertainment that packs all of Ridley Scott’s best, less-good, and absolutely insane qualities into a big, bombastic spectacle for the ages. Or, at least, until the next wacky offering by this director.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Gladiator II is an entertaining spectacle that delivers two-fold on its promise of epic and often bonkers blockbuster action, with its earnest execution and fun performances helping it triumph over its overly busy storytelling.