Gladiator II
In 200 A.D., Roman General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) attacks Numidia on the African coast for the glory of Rome, but makes a fierce enemy of Lucius (Paul Mescal) who sees his wife Arishat (Yuval Gonen) slain in battle. What both Acacius and Lucius do not know is that Lucius is the son of Acacius's wife Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, "Gladiator"), born of her affair with Maximus Decimus Meridius, and a rightful Prince of Rome, now reduced to slavery and purchased to deploy for sport in the Roman Colosseum by Macrinus (Denzel Washington) in "Gladiator II."
Laura's Review: B-
In the continuing trend of sequels arriving decades after anyone's stopped looking for them, director Ridley Scott returns twenty-four years after his Oscar winning gladiator movie with a film full of spectacle and violence that feels very much a faded echo of the first. It has its moments, mostly in over-the-top 'entertainments,' but it fails dramatically, Lucius's change of heart towards his mother and her spouse so abrupt one might experience whiplash.
After overseeing the burning of piles of war dead, a weary Acacius returns to Rome wishing to retire from battle, but corrupt twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn, "A Quiet Place: Day One") and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger, "Thelma") will have none of it, turning the general secretly against them. Meanwhile, POWs, including Lucius, are marched into the Colosseum where a pack of enormous, vicious baboons is let loose, but Lucius emerges a victor, delighting the crowd and drawing the interest of Macrinus, who has not only built a stable of gladiators, but is also plotting to overtake the throne, albeit in his own interests. He starts small, pitting Lucius against Senator Thraex's (Tim McInnerny, "Peterloo") man, and, winning the bet, continues to double down, until he bankrupts him, attaining power.
After seeing Lucius fight, Lucilla visits him in secret, informing him of his lineage, but the young man is enraged, denying his heritage and throwing her out. But when his wounds are attended to by former gladiator Ravi (Alexander Karim, "Young Woman and the Sea"), Ravi shows him the hidden shrine to Maximus and Lucius finds his destiny. Meanwhile Macrinus plays the emperors against each other, overthrowing Geta in favor of the weaker, syphilis deranged Caracalla, who appoints his pet monkey Dundus second-in-command with Macrinus third.
Don't go into "Gladiator II" looking for historical accuracy, because although many of the characters depicted here are real (Acacius is not), writer David Scarpa ("All the Money in the World," "Napoleon") has adapted their histories for entertainment value. So too with such spectacles as the Colosseum being flooded to recreate the Battle of Salamis, which while true did not include live sharks to dispose of the losers. The film's double climax is also fictitious, the better to set up a third installment already being talked about by Scott and Mescal.
While history has been goosed, it certainly all looks great, "Gladiator" cinematographer John Mathieson and production designer Arthur Max's work enhanced by scores of realistic looking special effects. While Lucius is told by Macrinus that he is powered by his rage, Mescal is more lover than fighter, his early scenes with Gonen making Arishat's loss felt. The actor has bulked up enough, though, to convince of brute strength. Washington is having fun as the manipulative Macrinus. Nielson makes us wonder how she's halved those twenty-four years while her costars Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix look as they did in 2000 in archival footage. Pascal plays Acacius with weary honor. Derek Jacobi returns as blink-or-you-might-miss-him Gracchus. 'Little Britain's' Matt Lucas is the Colosseum's enthusiastic master of ceremonies.
It's difficult to get too enthusiastic about "Gladiator II," though, an intermittently entertaining return to past glories.
Paramount opens "Gladiator II" in theaters on 11/22/24.
