When I heard that they were making a sequel to Gladiator, I was super excited about, content about it came out and I stay excited until last night when it finally slide into my Jellyfin and I watch it. Let me start by saying "THIS IS A GOOD MOVIE!, I RECOMMEND IT" but there are things that felt like its a carbon copy of the first movie. The original was perfect and ended how it was supposed to end, with Maximus joining his family in the afterlife, fast forward to 2024 and we are still here, just like with many other movies that never requested a sequel, we got one anyway. After watching Gladiator II I can tell you that it actually delivers solid entertainment value even if it follows many of the same aspects as it’s predecessor. We went form the Super Hero movie mania to now the Sequel Mania for movies that never ask for a sequel, mostly good 90s and early 2000s movies, this has to stop before they all start mutate into something bad for the industry, but mostly in the entertainment aspect for the audience.
I'm a sucker for ancient Rome theme movies, this time we got twin emperors rule that makes Commodus seem like a reasonable guy, Gladiator II felt bigger, the action is more intense and the gore definitely was turned up a notch. Director Ridley Scott knows how to make a movie look great and this one proves he hasn’t lost his touch. Massive Roman ships attack the shores of Numidia and the opening battle sequence hits you right away and the action only gets more spectacular from there, did felt similar to a battle out of 300.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18177528/
- Platform: AppleTV+
Rottentomatoes Rating
The movie does a great job to create this balance between nostalgia for the original, with familiar themes and moments like hands running through wheat fields and testing soil before battle, but there’s also new additions like flooded coliseum battles with sharks; something I'm still not so sure how possible it could be, mostly the sharks part, and there are political twist classic of Rome theme movies making it a bit predictable but not to the point that is boring or make you roll your eyes so hard that they get stuck jajaja. During Gladiator II we get to a Rome that it's more corrupt, more decadent and much more unstable, just one step close to collapse. This change generate a drastic change in the visuals, which present us with a magnificent city and a rotten one from within, while having games every then and now but at the same time a lot of people living on the streets, mad enough to one day try to kill the emperors but the Praetorian Army is just too strong and keeps shutting the city down again and again.
This time we have the story of Lucius, who has grown up and lives in Numidia under the name Hanno, son of Lucilla he is the prince of Rome who never came back after this huge remorse build up over time because he felt his mother push him away and never ask for him back. After Rome invades his adopted homeland killing his wife, he is back in the city he ran from as a child, forced to fight as a gladiator, do we see the similarities with the original movie? becomes a slave, then gladiator, then the hero of the movie?? hhmm. Well, the story is basically the same but there are enough new elements and political intrigue to keep it interesting, if you are someone who didn't see the first movie or are not too much into movies so this is just vague entertainment for you.
Paul Mescal, who thankfully does not try to imitate Russell Crowe; Gladiator was Crowe peak performance so I doubt he could specially on this movie, plays the role of Lucius bringing his own kind of intensity to the character. Maximus was more commanding presence, but he's more of a slow burning rage type, who wants nothing to do with Rome except kill General Acacius who lead the raid in Numidia, eventually ending killing his wife Arishat. I think that is the reason his performance works, he isn't trying to be Maximus son, he's making a character who's different and has different reasons to be.
Denzel Washington does a magnificent job and absolute standout as Macrinus, he even pulls his classic laugh, like the one he did as Frank Lucas in American Gangster, whe he gets interrogated by Richie Roberts guess who? Russel Crowe, things do go in circles in life. The more Denzel is on screen, the more interesting the movie gets, he is the the star of the movie. He plays this wealthy merchant/gladiator owner who has more plans than you'd think, bringing this fascinating mixture of charm and menace to the role, you’re always on the lookout for his true motives. It is the way he carries himself, taking rings and robes off with a casual discussion of violence and power, the man shows off an entire clothing line jajaja so different between scenes, that makes this captivating character you can't look away from.
Pedro Pascal plays the role of General Acacius, a man of war weary but duty bound, who is tire of war and does see through the emperors tyranny. Pascal even though having an important role on the story in my opinion look tame down by the script but not by his acting skills, the man does great too. In the best possible way, the twin emperors played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger have fall into madness, one more than the other, they make Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus looks positively stable in comparison
The action sequences of the movie are wild, from the flooded coliseum battle is just an spectacle itself, did felt a bit short but its a tight space and Lucius dominated it very similar as his father Maximus, both acting like leaders in the field commanding a menace attack unit that had no fear to die fighting for their life every second. There is this terrifying fight with baboons that had me cringing, in both directions, carbon copy scene from when Maximus gets Gladiator Status, same happens with Lucious, sadly the CGI isn’t always the best and the animals especially aren’t perfect but its a very ambitious movie when it comes to animal scenes.
The movie has an extremely predictable and cliche way of getting everything together as Lucius embraces his heritage as the grandson of Marcus Aurelius and spiritual vibe to Maximus. After all the personal and political manipulation during the movie, he wins the brutal showdown against Macrinus that feels earned, he shows mercy and just as Commdus, the twin emperors didn't show mercy. During the movie we have different views of power with the corrupt twins, Macrinus's calculated play, this are factors that force Lucius to shift gears and move from just wanting to kill General Acacius to try to safe Rome. It shows that strength isn't only about being able to physically overpower or to control the political status of some people, but it's about fighting for things bigger than yourself.
Instead, Gladiator II is a well made action movie that knows what made the original work and adds its own sauce. The violence and show are appropriately intense enough, the political side was kinda meh but action scenes keep the movie entertaining. A movie that in my opinion felt more like, what can we do to take the same story and upgrade it, this is Gladiagor 2.0, not a new movie, not a movie that is better than the original there for not the type of movie I was expecting and that is probably just my case, I'm bias since my favorite action movies are Rome based theme, main reason why this is not a special movie for me, giving it a 7 out of 10.
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