‘Gladiator II’ review: A merciful thumbs sideways

Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, and Pedro Pascal enter the well-worn arena of legacy sequel nostalgia in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II.

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Just 24 years after the release of Gladiator, one of the most dude movies to ever dude itself onto the big screen and then some, Ridley Scott has finally bought his freedom with the sequel he’s been hoping for since (checks notes) 2001. Turns out there is a Roman afterlife after all. Maybe it’s a little rude and unnecessary then to wonder why a film that’s been in the wings for this long has ended up so beholden to the modern foibles of franchise filmmaking. Yup, they pulled a Jurassic World with Gladiator. What they’ve done will echo into eternity, etc.

Not for lack of trying, though. Paul Mescal stars here as Hano, a military commander in Numidia who loses his freedom after a contentious battle against a Roman army led by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal). Filled with unrelenting rage and a hunger for revenge (sound familiar?), Hano ends up becoming a gladiator owned by a mercurial slaver named Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who revels in the opportunity to pit Hano against the tyrannical twin emperors of Rome in order to shake up the system.

“You will be my instrument.”

What follows is a whole lot of politicking and butt kicking as Hano carves a path through his various opponents in the coliseum, his sights firmly set on Acacius. But a secret about Hano’s true origins eventually rises to the surface, and we fall into what at times reads like guileless fan fiction. No offense to David Scarpa (Napoleon), Peter Craig (The Town), and original Gladiator scribe David Franzoni, but it’s as if a teenager who watched the original wrote the script for a sequel a week later and barely made an edit to the plot.

Despite working from a hackneyed script (particularly in the second half), Mescal never loses his verve as a bonafide arthouse performer. His previous work from Normal People to plenty else has cemented the young actor as one of our “new best.” With Gladiator II, his entry into a more mainstream blockbuster certainly has a lot of folks wondering about his trajectory moving forward. Based on the projected box-office and plans for a third entry, his agent will be fielding calls for quite a while.

“The greatest temple Rome ever built.”

Washington, however, is the film’s not-so-secret weapon, in that his scenery chewing should come with a spit bucket. Give us the most mundane, been-there-done-that Roman senate scene that Spartacus already lampooned into the stratosphere with its Starz series adaptation, and Washington swoops in with a most wicked personality you can’t help but love to hate. He’s the perfect foil to Mescal’s anguished boys’ life bravado, and a better film could’ve easily sent these performers straight for Oscars.

Pascal on the other hand ends up more fascinatingly anonymous here than when he wears a helmet on that Star Wars show. Connie Nielsen deftly reprises her role as Lucilla, but the film often just shuffles her around aimlessly and repetitively. There are only so many shadowy alleys and prison cells a camera can point to before the audience starts wondering if Rome is the size of a midwest strip mall. And yes, there is a “big reveal” worthy of withholding because some of you didn’t engage with the marketing or production history of this thing, so there can be a good little bit of fun to play the game of “who figures it out first.” Some of you will get it on the first frame, sure, but it’s not like it’s a competition for our lives or anything.

“That rage is your gift.”

The film does get extra points for its visceral action, particularly in the arena. It’s easy to wonder if the film would indulge the segment of the original’s audience who went in only caring about swords and blood and male grunts. Fortunately, Scott maintains the honest, tragic brutality of these set pieces without reveling in them (save for the male grunts, of course). This is not a “fist bump” film unless you’re desperately trying to force it to be that for you. It’s instead an often meditative car crash about how senseless violence can’t quite satisfy our primal urge for legacy (sequels). Don’t believe me? Take a shot every time someone brings up that “dream of Rome” bit from the last movie. Actually, don’t do that, especially if you plan on driving later.

The bottom line.

We can hopefully all agree that at the very least, Gladiator II will give more people a chance to revisit Gladiator. Most of the little details here are fine enough, and a little Denzel Washington goes a looooong way. No shame to Harry Gregson-Williams (that first Chronicles of Narnia film score still hits hard), but Hans Zimmer’s effervescent score is sorely missed here, even when they pretty much replay the orchestral. This isn’t the dream of Rome, but at least it’s not a complete nightmare.

Gladiator II opens in U.S. theaters on November 22. You can watch the trailer here.

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Images courtesy of Paramount Pictures. You can read more articles by Jon Negroni here.