The hit sensation that was Ridley Scott’s Gladiator starring Russel Crowe as fallen Roman general Maximus took the world by storm in 2000, grossing over 450 million dollars at the box office and winning Best Picture at the 73 Academy Awards in 2001. Now, Director Scott has taken it upon himself to continue the story of the Rome he established in the first film in Gladiator II, which follows Paul Mescal as Lucius, a prisoner of war who goes through a similar gladiator’s journey as Maximus, discovering secrets of his past along the way.
The cast of Gladiator II is star-studded to say the least, with Denzel Washington leading the pack along with Pedro Pascal and Netflix Original Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn. Denzel is always a safe bet when playing any powerful role, but sadly, many of the other performances felt lackluster or overly-fabricated, heavily due to the unemotional writing and dialogue given to the actors. Connie Nielsen undoubtedly held her own as Lucilla, understanding the conflicting themes her character went through experiencing the corruption of Roman politics first-hand.
The film delivered technically, not unlike most Scott-directed films. Great set pieces and costume design gave a great visual experience of an unrealistic but cinematic vision of Rome, unfortunately complemented poorly by sloppy sound design and battle scenes. The action wasn’t all bad, with many one-on-one fights bringing back some of the brutally-mesmerizing choreography that was so heavily loved in the first film, and a unique musical score headlining ancient-sounding vocals and instruments.
Seeing the fight scenes bring back that magic seen in the Colosseum in Gladiator I was certainly an upside of the sequel, but in a broader sense was also its biggest downfall. Going through each act of the film, you begin to realize how step-by-step similar the story of Mescal’s Lucius is to that of Crowe’s Maximus. Knowing the film was overseen by the same director, not to mention a director that is a veteran of the industry to say the least, these plot similarities may have been purposeful, but either way, Gladiator II comes off as seeming far too cookie-cutter of a sequel, not nearly as revolutionary or distinct as the first.
In a time where sequels are widely considered the leftovers of Hollywood and cheap attempts at making a profit, it’s sad to see a director with such a legacy as Scott slowly digging his name into the mud, with his last film being the messy and also disappointing Napoleon. At this point in his career, I hope Scott leaves the filmmaking before the filmmaking leaves him, and I fear he might already be too late.
