Movie Review | Gladiator II

Gladiator II (Photo – Paramount Pictures)

When the world’s second oldest profession meets the latest digital technology, the result is Gladiator II.

Gladiator II
Directed by Ridley Scott– 2024
Reviewed by Garrett Rowlan

I was a fan of the first Gladiator film. 25 years ago, the idea of filling the Roman Colosseum with a digital crowd was an innovative use of graphics, but this time around things are louder, longer (or so it seemed), and the thrill is gone. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to pebbly pixels used to suggest a huge, distant crowd.

Glad 2 follows the same format as the first film— a man with revenge on his mind crosses the Mediterranean to Rome— but I missed the assurance of Russel Crowe’s Maximus (I still remember his initial line, “At my command, unleash hell.”) and the quiet malignancy of Joaquin Phoenix as the bad guy.

Paul Mescal as Lucius, with his strong arms and square jaw, gives a decent performance though it’s no role for subtlety; his constant bellowing started to get to me. A winning fighter, he draws the attention of Denzel Washington as Macrinus, a talent scout with ambitions and a New York accent. (The film is a virtual polyglot of idioms, but I suppose it was Rome.)

After killing a baboon and tank-sized rhino, Lucius moves up the evolutionary chain, fighting tough guys and absorbing enough punishment to send a dozen people to the hospital. He takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Bloody but unbowed, he arrives at the luxurious halls of the dual emperors, brothers Caracalla and Geta, both effete, debauched, and crazy. Even at the top he’s not a happy warrior. Indeed, he wants to bring the whole thing down.

And loudly. I felt bludgeoned by the action sequences and by Mescal’s constant declamations, first to an arena, and by the film’s end to the entire seven hills of Rome, as if he had a microphone buried in his chest. While the digital technology might have improved, I never felt convinced by the boats, beasts, and standing-room-only arenas. The movie’s long closing credits contained enough words to start a Russian novel, which I probably would have preferred.

> Playing at Landmark Pasadena Playhouse, Regency Academy Cinema, Regal Paseo, IPIC Theaters, Regal Edwards Alhambra Renaissance, and AMC Santa Anita 16.