Back in 2000 Russel Crowe, in a star making and Oscar winning role asked us, ‘Are you not entertained?’ Of course we were, to the tune of $465m and now 24 years later we have Gladiator II but without him. Instead we have Paul Mescal as Lucius who turns out to be Maximus’ son by way of Lucilla (Connie Neilson) who returns to her role.
Lucius having escaped from the turmoil of Rome as a boy has grown up and resides in Africa that is until Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) rocks up in ships and soldiers galore who lay siege to the city taking the men as slaves including Lucius back to Rome. It’s from here that there’s a feeling of déjà vu and familiarity creeping in with a Rome ruled over by two corrupt and despised emperors ( a la Joaquin Phoenix in the first film) and a slave owner / trainer Macrinus (Denzel Washington in what was the Oliver Reed role) but something’s afoot. Acacius is plotting an overthrow of the twin emperors with his own army whereas Macrinus is plotting a more sly political overthrowing of the pair who seem to have a penchant for make-up applied in style of a housewife driving her car over speedbumps And in the centre of all this is Lucius an increasingly revered gladiator in some brilliantly spectacular colosseum battles that up the ante each time they occur taking in battles with murderous monkeys (with some pretty ropey CGI), rampaging rhinos and battleships and sharks. They’re all handled with Ridley Scott’s customary aplomb and are thrillingly shot.
But countering this is the political machinations of Denzel Washington’s Macrinus and despite this being titled Gladiator II this is really his film. His character is the one who has the arc as his scheming unfolds as his true intentions are revealed. His outwitting of Thraex (Tim McInnerny) a venal gambling mad senator is delicious. So what of Mescal as Gladiator II? There’s little doubt that he is a great actor with a feeling that the best is still ahead of him but whereas Crowe has an aura that you can understand why he would be a leader of men it’s not quite the same here for Mescal.
But that aside at two and a half hours Gladiator II is overlong but yes we were still entertained.
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Here’s the Gladiator II trailer…….
