Gladiator II Review – Are You Not Entertained?

There are a few movies in Hollywood that have such a cult status that attempting to create a sequel or reboot feels almost doomed from the very start. However, while these are pretty obvious for many moviegoers, they don’t seem to hit home with the Hollywood executives or keep them from at least trying. The original Gladiator film was released in 2000 nearly 25 years ago, to great acclaim. With a lasting legacy backed up by a great storyline and script, plenty of memorable quotes landed so perfectly that they still give viewers goosebumps all these years later. With Gladiator II finally here, featuring a stellar cast and Ridley Scott back in the director’s chair, the question remains: can it live up to the legacy of the original?

Maximus’ Story Continues Without Him

Following the death of Maximus at the end of the first film, the tale continues some two decades later. Having been sent away to safety by his mother, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), Lucius (Paul Mescal) – the son of Maximus – ends up in the African region of Numidia. However, he’s unable to escape his past, with Roman soldiers continuously seeking him out at every turn. 

Now married and living in relative peace, his life is upended when Rome decides on a complete conquest of Numidia, led by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal). With the Romans breaching the walled capital and ransacking it in the process, Lucius loses his wife on the battlefield, where she fought as one of the soldiers. He is then taken into captivity back to the Roman Empire. 

Here, he is spotted by Macrinus (Denzel Washington). After a few quick tests of his capabilities, Lucius is selected to be a gladiator in the Roman Colosseum. Now a vassal of Macrinus – formerly enslaved himself – he’s granted the chance to fight for his freedom by rising through the ranks and buying his way out of slavery. But things don’t go as planned for either man, with their aspirations set much higher than winning in the Colosseum. 

Gladiator Deja-Vu

If the story sounds familiar, it is. It’s the type of copy-and-paste homework that changes a few words and throws in a few errors not to appear identical to the source. While the original Gladiator film delivered a story in five minutes more of the screenplay, it’s a well-paced epic tale of planning, plotting, backstabbing and entertainment in the form of brutal battles. Gladiator II pales in comparison, dragging its feet across a similar duration that feels both rushed and slow as its scattered pieces seem only to await the inevitable battles. The movie can be separated into distinct parts: a story filled with chaotic plotting among the would-be rulers of Rome and those intense battle sequences. 

In that way, it follows the same formula as the original film but fails to engage the audience. For starters, the film is predictable, with myself and a few other viewers quickly spotting the protagonist, his struggles and where it’s leading to before he’s formerly introduced as such. A few of the viewers in the audience hadn’t watched the original film, and even then, it felt formulaic to them – they quickly spotted tropes from many similar films from the 2000s. 

Throughout the film, it felt as if everything was rushed towards each battle and fighting scene. These scenes are well-crafted and highly intense, but some parts of the arena battles may have been too elaborate to seem reasonable, aiming to deliver more shock and epic moments than the original. The craziness works in some parts, however. The choreography is well-presented and lives up to expectations. However, even without the iconic battles, the original Gladiator film provided great dialogue and tension (nominated for 12 Oscars and won five, including Best Picture and Best Actor). While the dialogue in Gladiator II does have its moments, with plenty of quirky moments between Emperor Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Emperor Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), and some exciting scenes with Denzel Washington, it doesn’t match that intensity we got from Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. 

Are You Not Entertained?

Creating a sequel to Gladiator was always going to be challenging, with expectations set sky-high by the original’s legacy. However, I believe many viewers (myself included) weren’t expecting it to. The real question became: “Would it be entertaining?” The film’s great fighting sequences do a lot of heavy lifting and, ultimately, carry the film to a decent watch and do well to close off the story left open-ended after the first film. It’s satisfying.

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