by G. E. Uke, Reporter

Let me begin this review by saying that Gladiator II is a DIRECT sequel to the first movie. It includes many of the same characters, references the events of the previous movie directly, and shows the aftermath of General Maximus’ death attempting to restore democracy to Rome. Ridley Scott does a brilliant job spinning a romantic narrative of power, corruption, and the very real struggle of idealism in the face of nihilistic apathy and greed. The one thing I applaud this movie for above everything else (and there is much to applaud), is its dedication to that ideal. Gladiator II is “ABOUT” something, even when things get weird or require a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief. In my eyes, that means it can get away with a lot. 

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD 

The story begins with a Numidian officer named Hanno (Paul Mescal) defending his home city from Roman invaders. He loses the battle, his wife is killed, and he swears vengeance against the Roman general responsible, Acacious (Pedro Pascal). He is enslaved and sold to a scheming merchant prince named Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who uses Hanno as a tool to ingratiate himself to the (very crazy and inbred) twin Emperors of Rome…with the ultimate plan of offing them, seizing power for himself, and then destroying Rome from within because he’s a bitter political terrorist with some very deep seated philosophical objections to what Rome represents. 

The visuals of this movie are STUNNING. The costumes are great, the backdrops are great, the shots of the city are staggering, the fight scenes are very good, and the stark contrast between the decadent elite and the poor is very evocative. A handful of scenes are so unrealistic that they require a strong dose of suspension of disbelief (sharks in the coliseum come to mind), but overall I gloss over these things for their cool factor. If you enjoyed the fight scenes in Gladiator, you ain’t seen nothing yet. There’s LOTS of bloodshed. 

This movie has some very good acting in it. Paul Mescal is of course the protagonist, but I found most of his scenes to be stoic and lacking emotion. Denzel Washington, by contrast, dominates every scene he appears in and projects an aura of sinister friendliness that sets the pace for the entire movie. Pedro Pascal does a very good “exhausted bitter general”, and I found his delivery as General Acacius to be superb. In a very real way, Acacius shows us the perspective of a well-adjusted man who understands all the absurdities around him. Connie Nielsen does a fine job as Lucilla, the daughter of the old Emperor Marcus (and the protagonist’s mom). There was plenty of excellent acting beyond this, but it would take too long to extoll all the virtues of the cast. Suffice it to say, they were good. 

All that said, I do have a few criticisms to get off my chest before I draw this review to a close. First of all, about halfway through the movie several characters abruptly “switch” their goals and beliefs very rapidly and with minimal explanation. The protagonist suddenly develops political ideals and loves Rome, the antagonist suddenly turns into a villain, all kinds of crazy stuff happens without much justification. Second, the riots in the city didn’t feel terribly realistic, the Praetorian guards were holding bows drawn POINT BLANK on the crowd like assault rifles (which is dumb), somehow they got great white sharks into the Coliseum, and a professional gladiator on a rhino decided to ram his mount into a stone wall because a guy threw some dust in the air…right next to a wall. Like the dust made the rhino somehow forget the dimensions of the arena. Third, the STAGGERING COINCIDENCE of a random guy in North Africa being a secret prince who gets enslaved and then brought back in contact with his mother because he recites a poem at a party is…a bit too coincidental. I appreciate the mythic romanticism of it, because it tracks like a Greek story, so I guess that’s fine…but they could have been a bit more graceful about it. There’s definitely some stuff you need to take with a grain of salt. 

Rating:
In summary, Gladiator II is a kick-ass action movie with political overtones regarding the need for honor and empathy in the face of corruption and nepotism. 

ComicsOnline gives Gladiator II – 4 out of 5 sequels.

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