Gladiator II is a spectacle of a film that rightfully deserves to share a name with its predecessor. With almost nothing to dislike about the film, it's a blast to watch in theaters. This review contains both a spoiler free version and a review with spoilers if you’ve already seen the film or are okay with getting the key plot points spoiled. If you’re okay with spoilers, I recommend reading both.
Gladiator II Review - Spoiler Free Version
Gladiator II is always fun to watch. Yes, I most certainly was entertained. The movie opens with a very artsy retelling of its predecessor that set the stage well. It then very briefly introduces us to the main character played by Paul Mescal and his wife. It wastes no time getting into the action as an epic battle scene with fantastically designed set pieces ensues within ten minutes of the movie starting. We’re introduced to Pedro Pascal’s character, a Roman general named Marcus Acacius, in this excellent action sequence. My feelings on this opening scene and how it plays out is expanded upon throughout the rest of the movie: the action is fantastic, but the plot is extremely predictable. Everything happened exactly as I thought it would happen but in the coolest way possible.
The two twists of the movie felt like they weren’t actually twists; as if I had seen the twists in a trailer. I went back and watched the trailer released a few months ago after I left the theater to see if the trailer actually had revealed the twists. Technically, no, the trailer did not directly reveal what would happen, but your first guess is probably right. My only other complaint was that the CGI was somewhat lackluster for a movie with a budget just under 250 million dollars. However, this was made up for by the incredible set design the movie presented.
Even though the plot of the movie was fairly predictable and the CGI wasn’t the best, I still enjoyed every second of it. It keeps the grit of the first movie and adds an even more dramatic flair with a modern day budget and bigger set pieces. The Roman navy attacks an African city while fireballs fly overhead, Paul Mescal and a group of gladiators battle a man riding an oversized rhinoceros, the colosseum is filled with water and a battle on boats is reenacted as sharks circle in the waters, and the Paul versus Pedro fight was quite thrilling. Overall, I give the movie a solid 8.75/10 and highly recommend it be seen in theaters.
Gladiator II Review - Spoiler Version
As I said above, Gladiator II is a blast to watch in theaters, but the plot is extremely predictable.
After the painting-like recreation of iconic scenes from the first movie, we see Paul Mescal sifting through harvested wheat, similar to how Russell Crowe ran his hands through growing wheat in the first movie. At that point, mere seconds into the movie, I thought, “Oh, he’s Maximus’ kid.” If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know my prediction was right. Then, his wife is introduced about sixty seconds before they’re both called to battle. Right away, I knew she was going to die and become the main character’s motivation. She has maybe ten lines of dialogue before she is slain by order of Pedro Pascal’s Marcus Acacius. On one hand, I think her death would have hit harder if the audience could spend more time with her. On the other hand, I appreciate a movie that jumps right into what I’m watching it for: the action.
After a phenomenal action sequence, a brief and well depicted journey to the underworld, and the capture of our main character, we see General Acacius declare he has captured the city in the name of Rome, but doesn’t seem too happy about it. Instantly, I thought, “He’s going to flip sides and fight against Rome.” Once again, I was right. We then follow Lucius on his journey to Rome until he is forced to showcase his fighting ability against a group of vicious CGI baboons. Some of the baboons look fine, but the baboon Lucius fights looks less like a baboon and more like Remus Lupin after he turns into a werewolf in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban if he was scaled down. Luckily, this scene doesn’t last long and, ultimately, detracts very little from the overall experience of the movie.
Eventually, Lucius is purchased by the ever scheming Macrinus, masterfully played by Denzel Washington. He steals every single scene he’s in. Washington gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen him give without being overdramatic. Macrinus, after testing Lucius’ fighting spirit with a goon wearing a pair of Roman brass knuckles, eventually sends Lucius into the colosseum.
When Acacius, back in Rome, meets with the twin emperors played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, it was once again obvious that he was going to turn on them. Quinn and Hechinger play their parts very well throughout the whole film, channeling Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in the first film. From this point on, the movie proceeds exactly as I expected it to: there’s multiple awesome colosseum fights including a rhinoceros that is better rendered than the baboons, Lucius sees his mom again and learns he is Maximus’ son, Acacius tries to overthrow the emperors and fails, he and Lucius must fight each other, they refuse to kill one another, Acacius dies anyway, and Macrinus is slowly gaining power. It’s predictable, but never ceases to grasp my full attention.
My final complaint is that Lucius didn’t kill Macrinus with the piece of an arrow he broke off from the arrow that killed his wife. That was a missed opportunity in an otherwise phenomenal end fight scene.
Ultimately, Gladiator II is just as epic, if not even more so than its predecessor. The plot is predictable and the CGI isn’t always great, but the movie still manages to be enthralling with fantastic action, awesome set pieces, and wonderful performances from every actor in the film. Overall, I give it an 8.75/10 and highly recommend it.