GLADIATOR II: Was I Not Entertained?

By Harrison J. Bahe

Years after witnessing the death of Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius must enter the Colosseum after the powerful emperors of Rome conquer his home. With rage in his heart and the future of the empire at stake, he looks to the past to find the strength and honor needed to return the glory of Rome to its people.

I really feel there was a missed opportunity to call this film Gladiators instead of the indolent Gladiator II, but I digress. Director Ridley Scott returns to the Colosseum after nearly 20 years to continue a story which I felt had its proper finale in the Academy Award winning 2003 film Gladiator. Now, was it me or was the fact that Paul Mescal was actually playing an older Lucius supposed to be a secret? Because that revelation was spoiled in the trailers and yet the whole film plays up this mystery of the true identity of this man we know is actually Lucius from the get go. They kind of dropped the ball on that one didn’t they?

Gladiator II is like the inverse of Gladiator. Maximus in the opening scene of Gladiator is fighting a Germanic tribe defending their land from a Roman takeover. In Gladiator II, Pedro Pascal’s Marcus Acacius is attacking Lucius’s new home and flips the cards by giving us the perspective of the Germanic tribe under attack by the Romans. The whole film plays to that theme of inversing so many plot points of the first film. Instead of the lovable lanista (manager of gladiators) like Proximo in Gladiator, we get the ruthless Macrinus played deviously by the devilish Denzel Washington. As any sequel does, it also ups the ante by instigating not one power hungry, corrupt emperor but two. If ever you wanted to see what a madman with a pet monkey driven to insanity due to a bad case of syphilis would do to his own brother, have I a movie for you!

Gladiator II uses many unused concepts that were abandoned from the first Gladiator film due to budget restraints. Concepts such as gladiators fighting rabid baboons, mounted rhinoceros, and enacting naval battles in a flooded Colosseum are brought to life in this sequel. While the film is a visual feast for the eyes in terms of bringing Rome back to life again for modern audiences, it falls short when it comes to an engaging story. Maximus’s roaring rampage of revenge for the murder of his family is what drove him to inevitably (and quite satisfyingly) killing Commodus. We spent time with him and learned of his love for his family and the respect he had for Marcus Aurelius. Here, we don’t get to spend much time with Lucius and his wife. At least not enough time for us to truly care for his revenge against Acacius. Sure, we do get Connie Nielsen’s return with Lucilla, but this sequel lacks heart and soul; something the original had ten fold of.

Gladiator II has concepts of what made Gladiator a memorable film: epic battles, political intrigue, masterful storytelling, great performances, and a sweeping tale of revenge. The sequel waters all of that down a bit. The most this film has going for it are the undeniably epic battle sequences but a majority of what leads Gladiator II to just being an alright follow up to Gladiator is its mediocre story and so-so conclusions to long standing feuds. Gladiator closed out with a bang; this film fizzes out to a wah-wah, which is why I give Gladiator II—

3 Standards out of 5

Gladiator II is Rated R for strong bloody violence. It is now playing in theaters nationwide.