It may be mid-tier Ridley Scott with standard-fare storytelling, but this sequel is boosted by Denzel Washington’s scene-stealing supporting role and a gleefully gorier treatment of violent spectacle.
Review #2,898
Dir. Ridley Scott
2024 | USA | Action, Drama | 148min | 2.39:1 | English
M18 (passed clean) for strong bloody violence
Cast: Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz
Plot: 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.
Awards: Nom. for Best Costume Design (Oscars)
Distributor: United International Pictures
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Roman Empire; Colosseum Gladiators; Honour & Courage; Dirty Politics
Narrative Style: Straightforward
Pace: Normal
Audience Type: Mainstream
Viewed: In Theatres – Golden Village Vivocity Max
Spoilers: No
Ridley Scott singlehandedly revived the swords-and-sandals historical epic with Gladiator (2000), still one of the greatest of its genre. Thus, any comparisons with Gladiator II would naturally not be in the sequel’s favour.
The quicker we accept that, the better position we are to view the second film on its own terms, much like how Coppola’s The Godfather Part III (1990) suffered disproportionate malignment from critics and audiences upon its release, yet it is actually a decent film.
So, in that spirit I shall take in evaluating Gladiator II. It’s mid-tier Scott, not as fantastic as the underrated director’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven (2005) or The Last Duel (2021), but certainly a more compelling film than Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) and Napoleon (2023).
While Paul Mescal headlines as Lucius, who is bought as a slave and forced to be a Colosseum gladiator after losing a critical battle with the Roman army in the opening sequence (the CGI battleships cruising towards land were shoddily done, I must say), the scene stealer has got to be Denzel Washington as a conniving man shrewd in the dark arts of politics who rises the ranks in the grand hall of power.
“We are not where death is. Where death is, we are not.”
Washington’s excellent performance keeps us riveted even when the plotting goes into standard territory—how many times have we seen a movie about an underdog attempting to rewrite history?
Or more so, how many times have studios (and Scott’s also guilty of this as one of Hollywood’s leading pitchers of expensive epics) cashed in on nostalgia and drawing connections, however tenuous or meaningful, with the mythology of iconic characters, in this case Russell Crowe’s Maximus?
Gladiator II makes it all somewhat tolerable, buyable even, with Scott’s usual flair for presenting large-scale spectacles with consummate skill. Even the ridiculous mid-film sequence involving sharks in the Colosseum is fiendishly fun.
Gladiator II entertains for what it is worth though it won’t stand the test of time—it is also far more violent and gleefully gorier than expected, which compensates somewhat for some of its narrative shortcomings.
Grade: B
Trailer:
Music:
Eternality Tan 