Gladiator II is a legacy sequel that sees Scott return to the crowd-pleasing, traditional legacy sequel format that he eschewed in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant for a new direction. This has been such a long time in the making for Scott that it’s been twenty four years since the release date of the first film – and in which, sequel attempts have been many and varied, including Nick Cave’s Gladiator 2: Christkiller, a film where Maximus, who was killed at the end of the first film, was introduced to us in the afterlife with a new goal, a new objective. You guessed it – kill Jesus. It’s appropriately bonkers and even includes a scene where he’s fighting in Vietnam. It was never going to get made – which is probably a good thing, but it’s also a shame – because Gladiator II is very much a sequel made with the original in mind; not wanting to disappoint fans and wishing to bring the legacy home. It falls into the same category as The Force Awakens, Ghostbusters Afterlife, Alien: Romulus, you know the drill – legacy acts that exist to provoke the memory and nostalgia, and fondness for that of the first film.
The film switches the script on Gladiator and has you meet Paul Mescal’s handsome Hanno, a warrior in defence of an attacking army. The Romans. Rather than be the conqueror, the protagonist becomes the conquer. This means he’s living in the ideal of Maximus’ shadow, but what’s perhaps more refreshing, and what highlights the corruption of Rome instantly, is that Maximus’ death meant nothing. There’s no world where he gets to change Rome by dying as the man who killed Commodus; there’s just more corruption. Twin Emperors, played with abundance by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, rule over a Rome that has lost all its glamour and hope of a freedom. The Roman Dream – is the catch-phrase of Gladiator II. For a film that’s set in the Roman age, it’s of the moment – you don’t need to be a critic to determine what Roman Dream is an analogy for.
Despite the different perspective; of conquered, not conqueror, Gladiator II treads similar grounds. It doesn’t feel like the writing of Lucius to be Maximus’ son was in the script or the original plans of the first film, and feels odd, like a need to connect the dots. It addresses the few survivors of the first film and their legacy in this new Rome very well – but the best of the cast members is Denzel Washington, in the best from of his life, as a scheming politician rising to power at all costs. Washington is a tour-de-force, a riot and much more energetic than Mescal, who has the hefty task of stepping into Crowe’s shadow. How can you, really? When Crowe’s Maximus performance is iconic as it was at the time. Washington chews scenery like the best of them – and his role is where Gladiator II becomes the most interesting, an insider’s look at a different Rome – one where the Dream feels like it’s on the verge of collapsing forever. Pedro Pascal’s stint as a legendary, well-revered general, the closest the film has to a Maximus character, is taken with the depth that it needs, and when Pascal and Mescal are both on screen together, Gladiator II soars.
One of the most common problems with Gladiator II is that people have been expecting historical accuracy. This does not need historical accuracy to be as entertaining as it is. Sharks in Ancient Rome? Who cares when we get some fun naval warfare in an arena? The CGI could’ve been better, true – the sharks look like they’re straight from a video game at times – and Scott’s lack of a care for accents, explaining the Jared Leto debacle in House of Gucci, isn’t that much of an issue when Washington is allowed to be as good as he is here, maybe one of the best performances of the year? Historical accuracy doesn’t matter when the movie is as much fun as it is.
If there is a more accurate problem to throw at Gladiator II is that it doesn’t try anything new. It feels too familiar, too set-in-stone. The legacy sequel of it all is both a blessing and a curse – you must hit the Gladiator fights, Lucius must earn Maximus’ name and armour, and it feels almost like a remake rather than a sequel, everything is so familiar. Subtlety is dead, but Scott films have always been as blunt as a sledgehammer, so that is to be expected. The way the film moves feels too familiar – you know when twists are coming because Gladiator already did them. It feels like it’s the fifth draft of a film that Scott has been trying to get off the ground for years, and that’s probably because it has been so long in the making. Too safe to feel like a Blade Runner 2049 or a Top Gun: Maverick, but enough entertainment to make it one of Scott’s best since the first.
