★★★ out of 5 -- Rated: R -- Run time: 2 hours, 28 minutes
“Gladiator” was a smash hit back in 2000, earning five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for star Russell Crowe.
There’s been much discussion over the years about doing a sequel, even though Crowe’s character died in the first film.
Now, 24 years later, after multiple concepts and scripts, plus a shooting budget that went north of $200 million, director Ridley Scott has completed the long-awaited follow-up.
The story is set 16 years after the events in the first movie.
Lucius, the young son of the former Emperor’s daughter (played in both movies by the superb Connie Nielsen) is now all grown up, exiled to a land far from Rome for his own safety.
Known now as “Hanno,” and played by Irish actor Paul Mescal (“All of Us Strangers” and “Aftersun”), he’s a happily married man as well as a fierce warrior.
His entire world is turned upside down after the Romans invade their land in an impressive boat assault led by a sympathetic general played by Pedro Pascal (“Game of Thrones” and “Narcos”).
Hanno and some of his fellow fighters are captured and shipped back to Rome, where he’s auctioned off to be a gladiator, much like Crowe’s character in the first film.
By the way, Crowe appears only briefly in the film. He’s in a stylized opening credit sequence that features clips from the original movie, as well as a couple of flashback sequences that reveal some important story points.
The movie is populated with a wildly impressive cast of characters: Denzel Washington seems to relish his turn as an ambitious and conniving power-seeker who is highly adept at manipulating people. Also: Joseph Quinn (“Stranger Things”) and Fred Hechinger (Season 1 of “White Lotus”) play two deliciously evil co-emperors who delight in staging violent battles in the Colosseum.
The script by David Scarpa (“Napoleon,” “All the Money in the World”) features a variety of actual historical figures but plays very loose with accuracy.
One example: A scene in which a character reads what looks to be an early version of a newspaper -- about 1,200 years before the invention of the printing press.
Visually, “Gladiator II” is highly impressive. The filmmakers took advantage of some great locations in Malta. Plus, the CGI is first-rate, especially in a scene in which a group of main characters arrive in Rome and march through crowded streets toward the Colosseum. The detail is amazing.
The gladiator fight scenes also take it up a notch compared to the first film. That movie featured some CGI tigers while this one has fighting baboons, a very mean rhino, and even some sharks threatening two full-sized boats floating inside the historical venue.
Story-wise however, this sequel doesn’t quite match up when it comes to the big emotional moments.
In “Gladiator,” the pain suffered by Crowe’s character after losing his wife and child made a real impact on the audience. I still remember being riveted as he stared down Joaquin Phoenix’s emperor character, revealing his identity and demanding his vengeance. It was very powerful.
That emotion is not nearly as strong in this movie. Mescal delivers a couple of “rally the troops” speeches that had me thinking how much better Mel Gibson did the same thing in “Braveheart.” Mescal is a very good actor but doesn’t dominate like Crowe did in the original.
Don’t get me wrong: Ridley Scott does deliver an entertaining movie with “Gladiator II,” but it’s not at the same level as the first film. He set the bar very high back in 2000.
Reports are that he’s planning on making “Gladiator III.” I’m curious to see how that turns out.