Gladiator 2

Gladiator 2, director Ridley Scott’s sequel to his Oscar-winning Roman epic from 2000, may give many viewers familiar with that film a sense of Deja Vu. That is because, nearly beat for beat, this is a retread of the original film.  While there are small wrinkles and the film offers some entertainment, it is not as thrilling as it believes itself to be nor as much as it desperately needs to be. Add in some sudden tonal and character shifts and you have a film that is often very frustrating. The film manages to evoke everything good and everything bad about the first film, yet with only a fraction of the charm and emotion. Given that the original film was one of the great popcorn dramas of the past four decades of film-making, this should give one an idea what is happening.

Courtesy Paramount Pictures

Connie Nielsen returns as Lucilla, daughter of Marcus Aurelius, as does Derek Jacobi as Gracchus, but only one of the two gets significant screen time. Paul Mescal, as “Hanno” is the nominal lead of the film, yet by far the least interesting of the main characters. Indeed, Denzel Washington as Marcinus and Pedro Pascal, as Acacius, deliver far more in terms of presence and interest throughout their time on screen. It may help their cases that they do not get tasked with repeating what Russell Crowe did in the first film. That repetition is an area of concern for the production. You could get yourself drunk playing a game of “spot the retread” or you could sit, largely detached, and say “now comes this beat from the first film” and watch it unfold, with slight variation, time and again.

With those complaints out of the way, the film is extraordinarily crafted and mounted, from a technical angle. Far surpassing the original film in this regard, the mere spectacle is something not seen in decades. Indeed, you may have to go back to the epic films of the 50s and 60s to find something on this scale. Even then, the details will not be there. This is a common touch in Ridley Scott films, as even the most otherwise average are always lavishly mounted and well shot. It is a shame the whole film is so predictable.

Courtesy Paramount Pictures

Part of this predictability and why it does not work for this reviewer, is that it feels unearned, here. The film relies on events from the original story to pay for what happens here, along with tossing in some ideas on fate, destiny and bloodlines. None of this, in and of itself, is bad, or even, taken separately, poorly handled. Yet, given how well we got to know some of these characters and situations, it feels like the payoff could have been greater. It also does not help that for a long portion of the run time, Hanno is a character fueled only by rage and when confronted with certain truths, his response is…awkward, to say the least.

Mescal is a capable enough actor, but this reviewer cannot help but think the film would have been better off taking a different direction and allowing for someone like Pascal to play the lead, as it is Pascal, playing a conflicted, tired, and honorable man, this is both the moral and ethical center of the film, yet also its most compelling character. For all his theatrics and all the scenery he so marvelously chews, Washington’s character comes in only a distant second in interest to Pascal’s. It also hurts the film that the twin emperors are not played by actors with as much intensity as Phoenix brought to Commodus, in the first film.

Courtesy Paramount Pictures

So, we are left with a functional sequel that is entertaining enough, if you can forgive or look past how much it very intentionally mirrors the first film. While this is part of the point of the film, it does keep it from fully exploring the other, more interesting ideas at play. Namely, those at odds with the very ideas of destiny. You will just have to look past how much this film plagiarizes its predecessor.

Gladiator 2 is now playing in theaters.