As an intended Classical Studies major having spent a couple of years researching Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, Gladiator II was a must see. Already a huge fan of the original Gladiator film, when I saw that there was a sequel, I booked my tickets and dragged my entire family to go watch it.
The narrative was confusing at first. I knew that Lucius (portrayed by Paul Mescal) was the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielson), but he was in some foreign land with deep, scalding hatred for the Romans. The cinematography, however, made up for any struggles I had understanding. Things begin to clear up with the naval siege when the Romans kill Lucius’s wife and then he is taken as a slave by General Acasius (Pedro Pascal).
Once the movie is taken back to Rome, the plot begins to unravel and thicken. We find out that Lucilla and Acasius are trying to overthrow the current twin emperors, Caracella (Fred Hechinger) and Geta (Joseph Quinn). The film made it very clear that this was only just the beginning in the fall of the Roman Empire. We see the corruption and unhappiness in Rome and all of that boils over with Lucius. The scenes from beginning to maybe the last 30 minutes had great writing and acting.
The ending was what I think people will like the least. It fell incredibly flat. Not to give away too much, but it all felt very rush. The resolution came down to the last 10 minutes or so. It may just be that they’re setting up for a third movie, which I don’t think is necessary. The dialogue also seemed to just fall off, like it was a project they just wanted to finish and move on.
All of the fight scenes were well done. That was never anything I was worried about though. They really spared no expense on CGI. I especially thought the naval battle scene in the colosseum was beautifully executed. It really baffled me how they were able to pull that off, especially with all of the sharks. It had me asking all of the right questions of how they were able to pull this off in the Roman times.
Denzel Washington’s character, Macrinus, really made me mad, but I think that’s a sign of a good actor. One thing I absolutely cannot get behind is his accent. Why did everyone else have these accents from all over the Mediterranean and Africa and then Denzel just had the plain old American accent. But, if anyone in this film deserves an award, it’s Fred Hechinger. He truly gave off that demonic, insane energy. I actually believed he was going mad from syphilis.
There are some glaring historical inaccuracies for sure, however, if I’m taking this at face value, I was never expecting an exact replica of gladiator lives. If you’re looking for an action movie with a good dialogue then this is your movie, if you’re looking for historical accuracy go watch a documentary.
