4/10
Gladiator is the definition of a blockbuster. The 2001 movie made $465 million and won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Famous for its beautiful direction, inspiring soundtrack, and intricate fight sequences, there’s a lot to love about the film. Over 20 years later, a sequel has arrived. It’s just boring.
The first movie feels larger-than-life. It’s surprisingly simple, only featuring three real characters: Maximus (Russel Crowe), Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), and Lucilla (Connie Nielson). Crowe’s Maximus is inspirational and hyper-focused. His character’s violence is justified by a tragic backstory and Phoenix’s creepy performance as Commodus. Besides the now-outdated CGI and a lack of female speaking parts, Gladiator holds up surprisingly well.
Gladiator II betrays the simplicity and structure that allowed the first movie to succeed. It is over-complicated yet under-developed, with seven major players who all lack depth.
The sequel is set 16 years after the original, with twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) taking control of Rome and ending Maximus’ promise of a restored republic. They send General Acacius (Pedro Pascal) out on military conquests with the guarantee that if he succeeds, they will keep his wife Lucilla alive. When he conquers Numidia, he enslaves their general, Hano (Paul Mescal), and sells him to Macrinus (Denzel Washington) as a gladiator, who takes Hano to Rome to fight in the Colosseum.
The first Gladiator is slow at first, carefully building Maximus’s relationship with his family, Lucilla, and Commodus. Maximus doesn’t even enter a fight as a gladiator until about 50 minutes in. It creates suspense and motive, making the movie believable.
Gladiator II completely ignores this approach. Mescal is in a gladiator arena within the first 10 minutes. When members of his army die off, the audience feels nothing, as the soldiers barely speak when they are alive. In rushing to fight scenes, Gladiator II removes all suspense.
Once Hano is sold to Macrinus, the movie becomes repetitive. He fights in the ring as Macrinus gives him confusing, morally ambiguous advice. Acacius and Lucilla plan to overthrow the emperors and reinstate the Senate. Macrinus kisses up to the emperors in hopes of gaining power. And over, and over, and over again. There is some break in this pattern as Lucilla recognizes Hano as her long-lost son, Lucius, but that is short-lived and predictable.
Macrinus and Lucilla are the only characters with explained motivations, and Washington and Nielson provide the strongest performances. The rest of the cast struggles to do something interesting with such boring roles. Mescal is okay, but he struggles with a macho role. His role as an internet indie darling suits him much better.
Gladiator II does relish in a 2024 glow-up. Director Ridley Scott clearly enjoys updated CGI, with a fight against a rhino and a naval reenactment of the flooding of the Colosseum. The fight scenes rival the first film’s iconic moments. Staying true to its original, Gladiator II is filled to the brim with death, though most of the kills feel unnecessarily gory.
It’s not good enough to be an enjoyable night out, or bad enough to be a hilarious failure. It’s just sluggish and sloppy. Its only major achievement is a reminder that the first movie is actually a great watch, so save yourself the $15 movie ticket and find the original on your TV at home.
