Sixteen years after Maximus and Emperor Commodus fought in the Colosseum another gladiator fighting for “the dream of Rome” arises.

Lucius’ (Paul Mescal) finds himself purchased by gladiator wrangler Macrinus (Denzel Washington) when his North African home is conquered by a Roman general named Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal). Lucius was once a son of Rome and heir apparent to Commodus following his death. But his mother Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) sent him away fearing for his life only for him to disappear entirely. Since then Rome has become a shadow of its former self under the tyrannical and bloodthirsty rule of twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). 

Lucius despises what Rome has become but still remembers the dream of his grandfather and the honour of Maximus. Macrinus, a former slave himself is a Machiavellian like schemer with designs on power. Geta and Caracalla are outrageously over the top villains that everyone can despise. Whilst Lucilla and Acacius still believe that they can outmanoeuvre the Emperors and restore rule to the Senate. All of these power struggles will play out in a multitude of battles in the Colosseum. 

It has taken twenty-four years for Ridley Scott to deliver a sequel to Gladiator and the biggest issue with the film will be that it will not be able to live up to the masterpiece that was the original. After so much time considering a sequel the approach taken is the Star Wars blockbuster approach where the story just repeats itself every generation. If it happened in the original there is a comparable scene/actor/plot line here. The biggest change is one of tone. Whereas the original was filled with honour and a belief in society being greater than its leader, here the goal seems to be to deliver a heck more fun. 

Gladiator II’s overriding success is in its grandiose visuals and spectacular battles. Opening with a sea assault on a colony to be conquered it then stages a string of battles. Those in the colosseum even have Matt Lucas tasked with introducing them like a ringmaster. The original film may have had tigers but this has fearsome baboons, a charging rhino and sharks! 

From a character and performance perspective Denzel Washington steals the show. His second film with Ridley Scott after 2007’s American Gangster sees him chewing scenery as he wheedles his way into the corridors of power in Rome. The next most fun performances for me were from Quinn and Hechinger as the positively insane twin emperors. The sort of pantomime villains you can really get behind. 

The other performers acquit themselves well with Paul Mescal delivering a quieter more restrained leading man than Russell Crowe’s imposing Maximus. 

The overall feeling walking out of the cinema though was disappointment. Measuring a sequel on its own terms can be difficult to do when its predecessor is so much better. But this is still a huge scale epic blockbuster with epic visuals, spectacular effects and memorable battle sequences. 

All of the inherent issues of making a belated sequel to a masterpiece are apparent. The result is as much fun as it is uninspiring. The epitome of fine as far as storytelling goes with the added sheen of exciting battles. 

If you want to read my original Gladiator review, or for that matter any review of a Ridley Scott film you can find them here – Ridley Scott Retrospective