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    Gladiator II review: We’re entertained

    Vaseline Posted on

    Gladiator II opens on November 14 in Australia and New Zealand, on November 15 in the UK and on November 22 in the US.

    It’s surprising that prolific director Ridley Scott has only made four sequels in his long career: Hannibal, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant and now Gladiator II. His two Alien sequels remain divisive and are seen by some as overcomplicating the simple, savage beauty of the original work. Gladiator II doesn’t burden itself with overcomplications. In fact, it’s a fairly simple rehash of Gladiator’s tale of political unrest, seen through the eyes of a warrior. But as history has shown time and time again, classics can always resonate if they are performed with verve. Gladiator II is incredibly light-hearted, not least thanks to an enthusiastic cast. The modern polish that Scott applies to the historical action frame he established twenty years ago ensures that no one asked for a true champion blockbuster from this sequel.

    Like Maximus Decimus Meridius before him, exiled heir Lucius (Paul Mescal) finds himself in Roman custody and forced to participate in gladiatorial combat. Lucius’ anger at the system clashes with his commitment to the ideals of strength and honor that Maximus espouses, giving Mescal a fun conflict to play with in the first half of Gladiator II – and helping distinguish his brand of heroism from that from Maximus. He enters the arena seeking revenge against Acacius (Pedro Pascal), a popular general who has conquered Lucius’ current homeland. But the story quickly puts Lucius’ personal motivations aside and uses him as a symbol for a younger generation fed up with the old ways. There are larger political machinations increasingly unfolding around the Colosseum games held in Acacius’ honor, and Mescal carries the weight of that brewing revolution well. He shows just enough humility and charm in the early scenes, and by the time the character becomes more of a vessel for Gladiator II’s thoughts on leadership, he feels worthy of the mantle.

    Maximus casts a long shadow over Gladiator II, but rather than mythologize him entirely, Scott cleverly grounds the character’s positive influence in the memories of those who witnessed his journey – namely Lucius and his mother Lucilla (Connie Nielsen). This is mostly handled well, but it does make Acacius, a statesman-like character very much in the mold of Maximus, stand out a bit. He helps us remember that there is still some feeling at the highest level of Roman power. But with Lucius already following in Maximus’ footsteps, Acacius’ embodiment of Maximus’ ideals feels redundant.

    Maximus’ defeat of Commodus in the arena 16 years earlier should have led to a new golden age in Rome, but the resulting vacuum of leadership made the city an even more paranoid, dangerous place than before – a failure of better angels that is quickly glossed over in Gladiator II. The Senate has been paralyzed by the emperors’ hunger for conquest, rendering old men in the Senate like Gracchus (Derek Jacobi) completely useless. But Lucilla has found her steel in the years since Maximus’ sacrifice and has paid for her brother Commodus’ stumbling in Rome by staying close to the instruments of power and advocating for justice. With that idealism and the price she’s willing to pay for it, Nielsen adds a lot of depth to a character that felt relatively strange last time around.

    Rome may be in a sad state, but that doesn’t stop Scott from having fun. Rather than getting bogged down in the dire circumstances of the empire, the director often uses them for levity. The regularity with which Gladiator II keeps its tongue firmly in cheek is a welcome surprise, considering how familiar the plot feels – even cutaway shots evidently eavesdropping servants feel like deliberate winks to the audience. Gladiator II is faithful to the structure of the first film to some extent, so the lighter tone that Scott takes really spices up scenes and plot developments that could otherwise have felt like repeats.

    That element of Gladiator II is most evident in the current administrators of Marcus Aurelius’ “dream of Rome”: brothers and co-emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). Their bloodthirsty whims and equally unpredictable mood swings make this nightmarish bunch of little, crazy boys worthy successors to Joaquin Phoenix’s extremely simplistic Commodus. Their antics border on slapstick, but Quinn and Hechinger are each so temperamental and obnoxious that they never let you forget the danger that Geta and Caracalla pose to the future of Rome. They may not have the same dramatic heft as Phoenix’s conniving villain, but they do have lots of eye shadow and a little monkey wearing a dress. That’s pretty much an even trade here in Gladiator II, especially considering Scott finds his balance elsewhere.

    Denzel Washington is absolutely electric in the role of Marcinus.

    The more nuanced examination of who has power (and how) comes through Macrinus (Denzel Washington), a gladiator trainer who rose from slavery to influence the city’s politics. This aspect of the character becomes clearer and more impressive as the story progresses, and Washington is absolutely electric in the role. (Mescal’s own performance is often at its best when he’s working to match the Oscar winner.) Macrinus is constantly calculating how to advance his cause, and whether Washington channels that through a whispered threat or an ostentatious display of charisma, he owns every room and always says the right thing. Whether Macrinus will use all that influence for good or evil – to exploit or benefit Lucius – varies from scene to scene. It makes Macrinus as imposing as any threat Lucius faces in the arena, and a reliable screw for the script to turn when the chaos of Geta and Caracalla’s rule becomes a little too predictable.

    Gladiator II strikes a winning balance between the palace intrigue and the action of the games, and Scott keeps a breezy pace throughout its two-and-a-half-hour running time. The arena scenes that serve as the film’s steady heartbeat tend to place a little more emphasis on size than substance; Armed with more than twenty years of VFX improvements, Scott floods the zone with a larger-than-life spectacle. A duel with angry baboons and fierce naval battles within the walls of the Colosseum (something the Romans actually didwhich shocked me) are undoubtedly greater than what Scott was able to achieve last time, but it’s not always for more effective purposes. The fights are quite different from each other (again: baboons and boats), but they all feel a little rushed, a little less focused than their more visceral and direct counterparts from the first film. Gladiator II’s one-on-one encounters – like a simple sword fight that Lucius is forced into at the Emperor’s insistence – often feel more impressive than, say, a CG rhino walking across the arena floor. But the games’ mix of decadence and brutality accomplishes its most important tasks: showing us the stakes of Lucius’ continued success, and demonstrating that being good at killing other people is a pretty fucked-up measure of that success.

    Vaseline
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