Gladiator II info:
Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: David Scarpa, Peter Craig, and David Franzoni
Starring: Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, and Joseph Quinn
Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. We are in the middle of a storm of new top-tier releases in the theater. So, after my reviews of “Red One” and “Wicked”, we are going to keep it rolling this week with “Gladiator II”. This is honestly a movie I thought I would never see. Not only was the first “Gladiator” (from 2000) so good, but it also ended in a way I didn’t think was necessary to continue the story. But Hollywood proves us wrong yet again. I would love to share my thoughts, but before I do this is your spoiler warning. If you haven’t seen this yet and don’t want to know what happens or if you’re waiting to re-watch part one, then please go over to my homepage and hang out for a while. You may find another great article to read.
OK, so even though it’s been 24 years since “Gladiator” came out, when part two starts, we see that only 16 years have passed since the events of part one. Lucilla (Nielsen) is still alive, but not in power. Her son Lucius was made to go away for fear of him dying in the name of someone trying to become emperor. He is now living what appears to be a simple and quiet life with his wife. That is until General Acacius (Pascal) and his men attack by boat. They storm their defenses, kill most of them (including Lucius’ wife), and take a lot of the survivors on as slaves.
This is much like Russell Crowe’s Maximus in “Gladiator” where he was once a nobleman and then forced to fight for his life and his freedom, Lucius seems bound for the same fate. This time around, the slave owner, Macrinus is the fabulous Denzel Washington. He likes what he sees in Lucius and wants him immediately. He quickly becomes his favorite “champion” and as they make their way to Rome, he is already making a name for himself.
As the story moves its focus back to the aforementioned city, more of the plot points start to fill out. Lucilla is married to General Acacuis and neither one of them is happy with the current state of affairs going on in the city they love. In fact, Acacuis has an army of men waiting on him outside of the city and he is planning on attacking and taking Rome back for the people and politicians. The current Emperors are a pair of twin brothers, Emperor Geta (Quinn) and Emperor Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) who rule Rome with a wild and reckless intent and with little interest in the people who live there. Both Quinn and Hechinger make great characters to root against, but in my opinion, Pedro Pascal was not in this movie enough. I loved his character and how he played the role. I would have loved to see more of the plot to upend the current Emperors and maybe even a backstory on how he ended up with Lucilla.
The biggest reveal of the film however is when we find out that Lucius is actually the son of Maximus. Thankfully I just re-watched part one before I saw this, so there were some little clues sprinkled throughout that hinted at this 24 years ago. It makes me wonder if having Lucius be Maximus’ son was always part of the plan.
But the real star of “Gladiator II” was Washington’s Macrinus. It was masterful not only to watch him play the part but to see his character bend the will of everyone around him so he would get what he wanted. But it was even more amazing to see his extravagant plans come to fruition almost as easily as it was for us to start rooting against him as the movie went on. With the help of Lucius and his amazing fighting abilities, Macrinus was able to cozy right up next to the emperors and even get a chair right next to them in The Coliseum. Side note, my favorite quote from him in the film: “Rome must fall, I need only give it a push”.
As more pieces of his plan start to fall into place and Emperor Geta is murdered by his brother (with the help of Macrinus), Lucilla and Acacius’s plan to storm the city is found out and they are captured. Lucilla is held as a prisoner while Acacius is made to fight in the area. When he and Lucius fail to kill each other, the archers are ordered to take out Acacius, which causes rioting and loads of angry mobs in the streets. So, Pascal’s short-lived journey as the General comes to a sad end, and we are left with Macrinus basically in charge and putting Lucilla in the area with only Lucius to keep her safe. Thankfully, much like his father, Lucius can rally the group of gladiators around him. They put up a great fight, but unfortunately in the end, Macrinus kills both the lone remaining Emperor and Lucilla. It was surprising to see her die, I seriously heard a few audible gasps in the theater when it happened.
Finally, when Lucius chases Macrinus down, chops off his arm, and then kills him it appears to be over. He is able to stop the impending armies from attacking each other and calls for a time of peace 16 years after his dad had a dream of the very thing happening. So, “Gladiator II” had a very similar set to “Gladiator” with a few plot points even taking queues directly from its predecessor. However, the sequel was able to save itself from the pitfalls of some other sequels based on the great cast and the intriguing story.
Overall, this is a fun movie, and I recommend seeing it on the big screen. The other good part is that you don’t have to see part one first to understand what is going on here. My son went with me without seeing the original and he followed along just fine. Now, with that being said, it is a better experience if you already know some of the characters and the backstories. I give this a valiant 7 out of 10 and it will definitely be worth a re-watch soon.
That’s it for another week here. Let me know your thoughts in the comments about the movie (if you’ve seen it). Did you like it better than part one? Was Denzel Washington just amazing in his role? Did you like how Ridley Scott brought us back to this world after two and a half decades? There are still more great movies to watch, so join me next week when I will be back for another mindless movie review of some sort.
