1 week ago
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Anticipation has always been a double-edged sword in cinema.
Even a fairly decent movie will have studios hoping that a second crack at the storyline will lead to similar if not higher returns. The time between original and sequel builds the excitement that drives sold-out opening weekends, but it is tied to increased expectations which also grow over the years. The longer the stretch, the better the movie must be to justify the time the audience waited.
Director Ridley Scott has given us Gladiator II nearly a quarter century after the first installment, but the formulaic story, questionable pacing, and lack of character development make it worth only a handful of those years.
We open with a brushstroke montage of the events of the original Gladiator, leading into a peaceful village home scene. Lucius (Paul Mescal) and his wife share a sweet moment before suiting up to face the incoming Roman armies, led by Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal).
Notice that I did not bother to list the wife’s name, as writers David Scarpa and Peter Craig did not bother to make her anything more than a plot device. Her early and easily predictable death at the hands of the Romans drives Lucius’ quest for vengeance for much of the movie, but there are no flashbacks or extended scenes to give us any insight into their emotional bond.
It is a loss, as the bond between Lucius and his men is far clearer while never being explicitly said. It’s somehow worse that we’re reminded that Scarpa and Craig could have applied this care across the board and chose to instead rely on the dusty vibes from David Franzoni’s original characters. Mescal and Pascal are actors of such caliber that even going through the motions is still somewhat entertaining, as long as there is nothing to remind the audience of greater aspirations.
Unfortunately for them, Denzel Washington showed up to earn his check.
Lucius is bought and sold to Macrinus, played by Washington with a bouncy, menacing fun. Macrinus’ stable of gladiators is a side business of his lucrative arms trade. It is very hard to not be outshone by a luminary like Washington, and even Pedro Pascal merely comes close to matching the attention he demands. There isn’t a single scene where Macrinus is not the focus, whether by design or not. In a film where the slew of hard hitters should be competing for best scene-chewing, it seems that only Washington showed up hungry. He paces the courts of Rome with an unmatchable swagger, and his charisma charms all genders of the gentry. It is unfortunate that such a compelling character cannot completely overcome bad writing, and his end seems rushed for no reason except to get to the final speech.
Gladiator II is frustrating because is does not ride on the coattails of the original as much as drag them through the dirt of the Colosseum. Each time it tries to distinguish itself, the result is so comically bad (Sharks vs gladiators? Really?) that you are wistful for it to go back to simply copying the original. But after a few beat-by-beat scenes, that gets older than the Roman Empire as well. And perhaps it deserves to fall just as hard.
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Produced by Ridley Scott, Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher,
Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, David Franzoni
Screenplay by David Scarpa
Story by Peter Craig, David Scarpa
Based on Characters created by David Franzoni
Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger,
Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington
English (US) ·