Whilst his latest efforts have wavered in their quality and execution, you still have to hand it to director Ridley Scott, who, at almost 87-years-old, is one of the few filmmakers who commits to the notion of epic storytelling to be played out on the format God intended: the cinema screen.
And such is the case with Gladiator II, a perhaps-not-necessary (but bloody entertaining all the same) sequel to his five-time-Academy-Award-winning 2000 opus Gladiator, that often adheres to a similar narrative as the original, but makes up for any familiarity with a welcome dosage of camp sensibility.
Almost two decades have passed since Russell Crowe’s Maximus perished on the floors of the Colosseum in Rome, and though history would like to physically erase him from the walls of the Colosseum, his legend lives on through the whispers of the Empire. It would be appear Maximus’ sacrifice was in vain though, as Rome is now overseen by the demented duo of twin Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) who are running the country seemingly into the ground with their cruelty.
But for every insane, villainous archetype, there’s a beacon of brawn and bravery to challenge such, and Gladiator II, initially, has its own duo to offset the Emperors in Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) and Lucius (Paul Mescal). Acacius is a general in the Roman army, and, in the film’s grand opening, he’s leading his men into battle as they invade the coast of Numidia. Though he’s acting on the orders of the Emperors, you get the sense that Acacius believes he’s bettering the lives of the subjugated in Rome. He’s a hero in a certain light, but in taking prisoners in the invasion aftermath, he earns an enemy in Lucius, whose wife, Arishat (Yuval Gonen), was killed in combat.
With nothing to live for, Lucius swaggers throughout Gladiator II‘s 148 minutes with a fearlessness that captures the attention of Macrinus (Denzel Washington, absolutely mirthful), a former slave, who we gather has earned his freedom through his own self-preservation as a former gladiator and has his own sights set on controlling Rome. Macrinus sees the brutal potential in Lucius, and butters him up to be a pawn in his own game, something Lucius initially agrees to; of course, Lucius being the actual heir to the throne of the Roman Empire through his birthright as the son of Maximus and Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), who has now aligned herself with Acacius, means he’ll eventually plot his own moves within this vast conspiracy.
Whilst the narrative on hand is reminiscent of what Scott and David Franzoni conjured in the original, David Scarpa and Peter Craig‘s treatment is operating as its own beast, just with a slew of its predecessor’s echoes. Gladiator II intends to have more fun than what came before, which isn’t a slight on the first film, but with Quinn and Hechinger devouring the scenery as a pair of damaged goods that play like an ancient Beavis and Butthead, Washington leaving little crumbs as a gloriously bisexual gangster of sorts, and such sequences as the Colosseum being flooded with water for a battle involving naval ships and hungry sharks, you gather the sense that Scott is all too aware that today’s audiences need more stimulation and, sometimes, grand storytelling from a dialogue and emotional perspective just aren’t enough.
Scarpa, who has written two other projects with Scott (2017’s All the Money in the World and last year’s Napoleon), like his director, seems to be aware of how to balance such mammoth action scale with character moments that aren’t swallowed by the spectacle around them. With such a vast ensemble, it would be easy for the players on hand to amount to little significance or impact, and whilst Pascal may not earn quite as much coverage as to be expected, Mescal (who wisely doesn’t simply just emulate Crowe’s performance from the first) and Nielsen provide a welcome sense of emotionality, gleefully contrasted with Hechinger and Quinn’s insanity, and, of course, Washington’s absolute domination; though, in spite of the actor’s obvious stature, he allows the actors around him to enjoy their shine, even in his presence.
Whilst there’s often discourse around how much films should cost and if that price tag is justified, Gladiator II, sizeable budget aside, should absolutely be celebrated for the fact that it’s been made by someone who loves the grand nature of theatrical storytelling and deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible by people who have enough of an attention span to put down their phones for 2 hours and be enveloped in an escapist mentality.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Gladiator II is screening in Australian theatres from November 14th, 2024. It will be released theatrically in the United States on November 22nd.
