HOLLYWOOD—This had to be one of the most anticipated movies of the year for me. I mean nearly 25 years after the Best Picture flick “Gladiator” took the top prize, we are getting the sequel. Did I ever expect it? No. Was I glad to see it? Yes, but it leaves plenty for the audience to want. It is not a perfect movie, it has its flaws, but it does entertain.
For starters, director Ridley Scott is back behind the camera, and what he does for this movie on a visual front is amazing. The Coliseum, the backdrop, the characters, the animals, the theatrics. You feel like you are in Rome literally. It takes you back to a time that you could only imagine and it was wonderful being invested in it.
I will argue the pacing felt a bit off at times. The first hour of the movie has its highs, but it also has some slow moments. However, the action picks back up and when it does it is a gauntlet to the finish that is quite the ride. That goes without saying, you have to see the predecessor before watching this sequel. You have to know some of the key players and how they fit into this movie, especially our protagonist, Hano aka Lucius (Paul Mescal). Mescal is fine in the role; Hh bulked up as its quite obviously, but he lacks that charisma that Russell Crowe’s Maximus had in the first movie.
Why is Maximus so important? Lucius is his son, only Lucius doesn’t know that, and he doesn’t really discover that whopper of a reveal until about the start of the third act of the movie. That is the result of his mother, Lucilla, recognizing her son, when he happens to be fighting in the arena thanks to a wicked Macrinus portrayed by Denzel Washington. I will admit that Washington is delicious in this role, but is it one of his best performances I have ever seen? No and it’s not even close. He is villainous and Washington knows how to deliver evil when he is given a juicy part, but my socks weren’t blown off in the process.
The big climax was probably the icing on the cake for me and I loved every minute of it; action-packed, vicious and just a ton of fun. My biggest gripe with “Gladiator II” is the story is weak compared to the first movie. It works as a film, but it doesn’t deliver the knockout punch that I craved for a movie after almost 25 years since the original. The antics are amplified in the arena, you have our protagonist battling rabid baboons, the coliseum is filled with water and sharks, battlelines are drawn and allegiances are questioned and betrayals are exposed.
I thought Pedro Pascal’s character was underutilized in the movie. This man is such a talent and I felt his presence was barely felt except for that one fight sequence that was a bit underwhelming. He is fun and interesting as General Acacius who is married to Lucilla and has done some stuff that Lucilla would not he pleased to learn about when it comes to Lucius, her son.
I’m sorry, but I hated, and I mean hated with a passion the characters, Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). Both characters were just too performative for me; it got to the point that I couldn’t wait for them to be off the big screen, as they were a major hiccup in the narrative moving forward, and didn’t contribute much excitement.
There is a lot of talent in this movie and I wanted more in terms of spectacle. Yes, sequels are expected to be bigger and bolder and in some aspects the movie reaches those heights, but in other elements it falls short. Will you be entertained watching “Gladiator II?” Yes, but you will always be thinking about its predecessor, and when you compare the two, the 2000 flick is leaps and bounds over this sequel.
