Gladiator II

As someone who has loved the original Gladiator for a long time, this is a bit of a painful review to write. It's one where perhaps my disappointment in Gladiator II is overly affecting my judgment, but one can't help but feel like this sequel was exactly what we all feared: unnecessary and lesser. As the kids say, this was the definition of "mid". And that's coming from someone who was genuinely excited for this long-gestating follow-up to the iconic 2000 classic. 

Following his similarly disappointing Napoleon, the prolific director, Ridley Scott returned to finally create the sequel that has been rumored for over a decade. Originally, I think many asked - given the ending of the first film - how? To be honest, I'm still asking that question after Gladiator II as I was not 100% tracking the connection to Maximus, but even if it was a standalone with minimal/no connection, this would have been hotly anticipated. 

Unfortunately, Gladiator II is a bit of a mess in nearly every way. The story is convoluted, even outside of Lucius's (Mescal) relation to the original. It's a film that feels like it needed more breathing room, and strangely, I think may have been an overall better movie at nearly 3 hours. It culminates very quickly at the end and feels rushed, almost in comical fashion on a final speech that doesn't feel totally earned. Where the original had some strong emotional heft behind its story, this one feels completely void of emotion, largely because of the screenplay itself. 

With a cast this strong, you'd expect great performances, and strangely it feels like most are phoning it in. Paul Mescal is a talented young star, but doesn't leave much of an impression here, while Pedro Pascal similarly feels like an A-lister for A-listers sake. Fred Hechinger - one of the two emperors - completely overacts the entire time, entering annoying territory. His counterpart Joseph Quinn fares better and was probably the best performance (even with minimal lines) behind Denzel Washington. Other reviews you've read are true: Denzel is the saving grace of this film and is clearly bringing something unique to his character's approach. Hindsight is 20/20, but one can't help but think that the way-too-familiar screenplay would have been more original and more impactful by following a different character than the central gladiator. Denzel's Macrinus feels like the obvious choice and a different approach with potentially even many of the same scenes and outcomes could have been elevated by switching up the approach. 

And while one would say: what about the "spectacle"? I'd say: sure, Gladiator II delivers on spectacle, but none of it will be i) something that will stick with you or ii) is as groundbreaking as what was in the original. This is "bigger" - there's a naval battle in the Coliseum for God's sake - but I didn't think any of it was better. Some of the choreography is tighter and faster, but largely the battles here are nothing special in 2024 and won't have the lasting power of the original. To reiterate my point, this felt like a sequel in the wrong ways and lesser overall. 

Probably the best battle of the film from a technical perspective

Unfortunately, it felt like some of the filmmaking took a "lesser" approach too. Gladiator's original score is iconic. So where the f**k was it in this movie, aside from a few moments? Or where was a similarly grand theme? The special effects here range from fantastic (the Coliseum) to awful (baboons), but the pacing and editing felt off and rushed. Cinematography was strong by any measure, but I can't quite picture a single image that will last with me. 

Gladiator II isn't a bad film, despite how much I've been ripping it apart here, but it is exactly what we feared it was: a generic sequel that doesn't really have a reason for existing. In relation to other legacy sequels, Top Gun: Maverick (unfair example?), this is not. What's more frustrating is that I do think there's a version of this that could have been great, with a shifted character POV, reducing the convoluted connection to the original, and giving the entire thing some more breathing room.

Rapid Rath's Review Score | 6.5/10