Gladiator II Entertains Almost in Spite of Itself
Let’s get this out of the way upfront: Ridley Scott’s second crack at ancient Romeis not the dynamic, emotionally invigorating epic smash that 2000’s Academy Award–winning Gladiator was. Even though this new tale picks things up 16 years after the heroic death of Maximus on the dirt of the Coliseum, there’s precious little difference to the beats between the two films’ central stories. Screenwriter David Scarpa (Napoleon), who conjured up the original plot with Top Gun: Maverick Oscar-nominee Peter Craig, doesn’t so much design a brand-new chariot for this sequel as he instead slathers a fresh coat of paint on the old one.
Even so, Scott still shows he’s a magnificent cinematic craftsman with few equals. From an opening siege featuring Roman warships crashing against the gigantic stone walls of a coastal city valiantly defending itself against insurmountable odds, to feats of gladiatorial combat inside the Coliseum that are a continuous feast for the senses, the esteemed filmmaker pulls out all the stops. Throw in a scenery-chomping, larger-than-life supporting performance from Denzel Washington, and there’s plenty about this sword-and-sandal opus to get excited about.
After his city is sacked and his wife killed by Roman forces led by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), a young man (Paul Mescal) — who has lived most of his life under a pseudonym — is sold into slavery and purchased by the conniving master of gladiators Macrinus (Washington). Turns out, this newcomer is very, very good at surviving in the arena, and he’s even better at getting fellow slaves to follow his orders. He quickly makes an impression on the citizens of Rome, even catching the eye of the late emperor Marcus Aurelius’s daughter Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), now Marcus Acacius’s wife.
This handsome gladiator is no faceless stranger. In reality, he is Lucilla’s missing son, Lucius. He was assumed dead after the village she had hidden him in as a boy was raided by soldiers sent to murder him. They were under the command of the current Roman emperors, the flamboyantly effete and murderously venal twin brothers Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), and both would do practically anything to retain power.
Scarpa and Craig plant several seeds that, if they had been given the freedom to grow unencumbered, may have produced something unexpectedly special. Instead, the journey Lucius goes on is remarkably similar to what Maximus faced as he was trying to avenge the senseless killing of his wife and child. Oh sure, there are a few slight detours, but none of them add up to anything substantive.
There is one exception, and that’s the Machiavellian subplot that Macrinus is at the center of. He wants to use Lucius as a weapon, but not one that could help free Rome from the tyranny of Geta and Caracalla. His designs are far more carnivorously devious. Macrinus takes boisterous glee in his puppeteering, and Washington goes to great lengths to play the man with a pompously cocksure gravitas that precious few would have the desire, let alone the ability, to stop.
And yet, Gladiator II always plays it safe. Every time I thought it was going to do something unique, every moment that looked like the film would offer up something unexpected, events quickly spiraled back to the well-trodden path the previous epic had already confidently galloped upon almost a quarter-century prior.
It gets worse. Attempts to showcase the gender and sexual complexities of the Roman Empire inadvertently fall on deaf ears. With rare exceptions, they’re regressively abhorrent, mostly feeding hateful stereotypes that over the past decade have tragically made a noticeably cruel comeback. I’m all for exuberantly Queer representation in major Hollywood productions, but sadly, what’s exhibited here likely does more harm than good, and that’s depressingly unfortunate.
It’s undeniably impressive that Scott still manages to orchestrate an exhilarating spectacle that doesn’t so much overcome these obstacles as it at least enjoyably minimizes them. All of Lucius’s gladiator face-offs are stunning, including a wild affair in which he’s forced to confront a swarm of carnivorous baboons and another that’s a full-blown sea battle in the center of the Coliseum (and includes a swarm of great white sharks). There’s also a bit involving Macrinus, Geta, and Caracalla that had me deliciously squirming in my seat, and the way Washington delights in this moment of venomous duplicity is ghoulishly spectacular.
In the end, the question on the tip of every viewer’s tongue is going to be the same one Maximus growled at the audience in Gladiator: “Are you not entertained?” That Scott can still positively answer that query is revelatory — even when going through the motions, even when presenting elements that, for whatever reason, have almost certainly been edited down into risibly insulting insignificance in postproduction. It’s also a continued testament to his unparalleled directorial skill.
Yes, for all my misgivings, I was entertained by Gladiator II. I call that a victory.
– Review reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle
Film Rating: 2½ (out of 4)
