Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: David Scarpa
Cast: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, Alexander Karim, Yuval Gonen, Tim McInnerny

Twenty-four years ago, Ridley Scott brought Gladiator to audiences. It was a critical and commercial hit, and its legacy continues to the present day. Its enduring popularity, then, must be the reason for this sequel. Gladiator is considered to be quite the epic, with its sets, costumes, calibre of performances and overarching themes of perseverance, justice, revenge, and much more besides, making it a tough act to follow. Gladiator II apparently follows much of what Scott led with in his first film, but there’s always a risk of repeating a successful formula to the point of being unoriginal and repetitive. Does Gladiator II stand strong enough to fight its own box office battle, or is history repeating itself in all the wrong ways?

Note: There will be spoilers from the first Gladiator movie in this review for contextual purposes.

Sixteen years on from the death of Marcus Aurelius and the deaths of Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) and his rival, the Roman emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), Rome is ruled by the tyrannical twins Geta (Quinn) and Caracalla (Hechinger), consistently sending their armies, led by General Marcus Acacius (Pascal), to conquer foreign lands in their name. During one of these raids, they capture a man named Hanno (Mescal), and on proving his strength, he is sent to the colosseum to fight as a gladiator for the amusement of the emperors. As Hanno garners the favour of the spectators, his influence grows, and he soon finds himself embroiled in a plot to topple the emperors and return Rome to its people.

For full disclosure, I am not a huge fan of Gladiator. It took me years to watch the movie all the way through without falling asleep (I could explain why but you can read my short Gladiator Tiny Tapes review here instead) and I was thoroughly underwhelmed by it. However, that isn’t to say my expectations were low for this film (although it took me a while to get around to seeing it due to illness, so I wondered if that was a bad omen). The cast is an impressive one, and to have Scott return to helm the film could only be a good thing, so I went in feeling positive, which turned out to be the right attitude. Controversial opinion incoming: Gladiator II is, overall, a better film than Gladiator.

Gladiator II took and built upon good aspects of the first film, such as a decent balance of action, drama and dialogue, fantastic sets, top performances and an epic score. While CGI was certainly used far more than in the first film (naturally), it is quite seamless in its inclusion (aside from some strange looking baboons). The sets are impressive and immersive, and the score by Hans Zimmer’s protégé Harry Gregson-Williams is very much reminiscent of the legendary composer’s own soundscapes and arrangements (listening to the sequel’s soundtrack as I write because it really is quite epic in its own right). Scott also manages to improve on the weaker aspects of his first film, such as more believable dialogue, a far more engaging story and some more well-rounded characters. It does still retain some rather tacky moments (directly quoting from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations), take full poetic Hollywood licence with history for dramatic effect, resulting in historical inaccuracies (adding sharks to a naumachia and mentioning the Greek name of Poseidon rather than the Roman equivalent of Neptune as a couple of mild examples), and the plot was still quite formulaic, but much of it can be forgiven for the sake of entertainment value.

While Crowe’s performance in Gladiator was award-winning, Mescal added his own flavour to a very similar role. He certainly has the look and build of a stereotypical Roman (his profile could easily have found itself on the side of a Roman coin), and, much like Crowe as Maximus, he played Hanno understatedly as befitted his character’s nature and narrative while owning every scene he was in. Washington hasn’t played many villains in his career but judging by his loose and almost carefree performance as Macrinus, he could very much be entering his villain era now, something he appears to be enjoying. Pascal gives an uneven performance as General Acacius, partly due to the character being rather weak in spite of his position and the way he is revered, and partly the confusing American/not American accent. In contrast, Nielsen’s return as Lucilla proves to be integral to much of the film’s plot, as well as a more solid tie to the first film, and her performance is as resilient and resonating as it was before, if not more so due to Lucilla’s journey. Quinn and Hechinger play very different characters for a set of twins, and while Quinn provides a solid and menacing performance as Geta, the more switched-on of the two, Hechinger gets to show more range with the mentally incapacitated Caracalla. They also both have much of the same sadistic and corrupt tendencies as their predecessor, Commodus. The film also boasts an array of supporting performances that complete a sturdy ensemble.

While Gladiator may not have been my cup of wine, Gladiator II tickles my tastebuds far more. I can appreciate the first film for what it is and understand why it continues to be held in high regard, but for me there is something much more cohesive about Gladiator II that kept me far more engaged, literally on the edge of my seat at times, jaw on the floor during unexpected moments of violence. As Marcus Aurelius said (because I’m about to be tacky and quote from Meditations): The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts, and my thoughts are that this is one successful sequel. If you are a fan of the first film, I believe you will still get much enjoyment from this one too, even if nothing can really compare to Maximus for you. There is apparently to be a third film, the quality of which will be anyone’s guess, but there’s nothing to stop Scott from throwing a third Gladiator into the Hollywood box office battle.