REVIEW: Gladiator II [2024]

Rating: R | Runtime: 148 minutes
Release Date: November 22nd, 2024 (USA)
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director(s): Ridley Scott
Writer(s): David Scarpa / Peter Craig and David Scarpa (story) / David Franzoni (characters)

I choose rage.

I’m thinking Gladiator II is a product of its time. A product of a sequel/prequel culture wherein nuance and complexity is excised for fan service and happy endings. Why? Because David Scarpa’s script, as realized by Ridley Scott, feels like the answer to the question: What if Gladiator, but simpler and less bleak? What if the point wasn’t for Maximus to avenge the death of his family and reunite with them in the afterlife, but to use their absence as the reason to become the very thing he never wanted to become?

Yes, a lot of people still die. These aren’t bleak deaths, though. They aren’t innocent victims of tyranny. They are either tyrants being deposed by more ruthless tyrants or martyrs willingly sacrificing themselves to ensure tyrants can no longer hide behind fear-induced loyalty. Yes, it’s still a plot in search of Marcus Aurelius’ dream of a “Free Rome,” but it takes that idea literally rather than figuratively. It’s as though a new generation of viewers couldn’t understand that the freedom won in Gladiator existed within the soul, so Scott obliged by force-feeding them a freedom via concrete physical victory instead.

The result is a watered-down reboot more than anything else. A film that holds the concept of “more is more” to its chest and refuses to let go. Let’s have two immoral cretins on the throne rather than one! Let’s split Maximus in two so his personas of “good general” and “fearless gladiator” can co-exist just long enough to thematically merge via sacrifice anyway! Let’s push the cretins to the background as syphilis-riddled idiots so this go-round’s gladiator whisperer can become an intelligent usurper pulling strings on both sides of the aisle!

My favorite example of diminishing returns, however, is the fact that the film thinks so little of Hanno (Paul Mescal) that it continuously uses flashbacks to Russell Crowe to remind us of the emotions we’re supposed to feel. That this technique also doubles as a foreshadowing hammer bludgeoner insofar as who Hanno is beyond his real name only reinforces how little faith the filmmakers have in their audience to put the pieces together.

While all of this marks Gladiator II as an unequivocal failure as a sequel and remake, it is admittedly still an adequate actioner. I thought Mescal held his own in what’s a departure from the introspective dramas I’m used to seeing him in. The action scenes are well-constructed and exciting with zero lulls (a positive for the thrills and a negative for any desire to get into the heads of the characters). And the supporting cast (Denzel Washington is the highlight, Pedro Pascal is the heart, and Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger the jesters Scarpa and Scott hope to shield their blunt sleight of hand connecting the films) is excellent.

Does it provide anything we didn’t already receive from the original? No. Does it do anything better than the original? No. It’s an unnecessary cash-grab that allowed Ridley Scott to play with familiar toys within a grander spectacle that ultimately strips them of what made them special enough to want to pick them back up. So, press play for the excuse to eat popcorn. Expecting more will only disappoint you at best and fill you with rage (like Hanno) at worst.