Years after witnessing the death of Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius must enter the Colosseum after the powerful emperors of Rome conquer his home. With rage in his heart and the future of the empire at stake, he looks to the past to find the strength and honor needed to return the glory of Rome to its people.
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington
Release Date: November 22, 2024
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Rated R for strong bloody violence.
Runtime: 2h 28m
Review:
Gladiator 2 marks Ridley Scott's return to ancient Rome's fighting pits with massive action set pieces that are dazzling and entertaining, but the story never finds its own footing as it is content with hitting the same beats as the original. Twenty four years after his Oscar winning original Ridley Scott is still a master of creating massive set pieces with a heavier emphasis on maritime action here. The battles are wonderfully staged and appropriately bloody and chaotic as Scott ups the ante in terms of cinematic mayhem. These moments deliver the kind of thrills you'd expect from a legendary filmmaker returning to one of his most loved creations but it does beg the question as to why the story feels like an afterthought. The plot seems to twist itself into all sort of illogical contrivances to make Maximus's son follow the exact same path as his father. It would be excusable if it had something new, interesting or revelatory to say but its pretty much the same "Dream of Rome" tagline from the original. It makes everything feel like a hollow facsimile of the original which is hammered home with clips of that film being inserted throughout. Paul Mescal has the unenviable task of stepping into Russell Crowe's shoes here and sadly he can't match the screen presence or intensity he brought in the original film. Mescal does his best but he's generally the least interesting character onscreen as we follow him go through the same trials as Crowe's Maximus, he even has a dead wife he wants to meet in the afterlife to boot. Suffering a similar fate are Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger who have to step into the emperor role which Joaquin Phoenix memorably played in the original. In spite of their best effort, neither can really bring the sort of dangerous depravity needed to make for a memorable antagonist. Pedro Pascal fairs better with a measured turn as a general who is ready to lead a revolt. The film wouldn't have fared better if it'd given his character more of a spotlight as there's plenty of moral grey to play with but the story never bothers to fully explore it. Denzel Washington proves to be the film's saving grace as the only real movie star onscreen throughout. Washington is clearly having a ball as he chews up scenery gleefully every time he shows up onscreen. He bring so much enthusiastic energy to his performance that you easily overlook how clichéd the character and his motivations are written. In another universe there's a better version of this story that would have focused on Pascal and Washington's characters and political aspirations and intrigue. These kind of missed opportunities leaves Gladiator 2 feeling like a well constructed but ultimately soulless retread of far better film.
B-
