By Jake Wilson
GLADIATOR II ★★★
(M) 150 minutes
When a film is a hit on the scale of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator in 2000, a sequel is usually in the pipeline before long. The difficulty is that Gladiator had a fairly definite ending, with the hero Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) perishing in the Roman arena after surviving many rounds of bloody combat.
Paul Mescal as Lucius, son of Russell Crowe’s Maximus, in Gladiator II.
Over the years, there’s reportedly been talk about continuing the story in a range of ways, including following Maximus into the afterlife. But at the age of 87, Scott has finally picked a road that will lead him back to Rome. Scripted by his regular collaborator David Scarpa, Gladiator II jumps forward a generation to 200AD to chronicle the exploits of Maximus’ exiled son Lucius (Paul Mescal), introduced as a farmer living quietly in northern Africa.
A rising star best-known from arthouse films such as Aftersun, Mescal wisely doesn’t try to emulate Crowe’s swagger: he retains an agreeably stoic, undemonstrative manner, as if he didn’t see himself as anything special. Still, Lucius has inherited his father’s warrior prowess, as we discover when he’s captured by the Romans and forced to fight in the arena, yearning all the while to avenge the death of his wife (Yuval Gonen).
Parallel to this is a struggle unfolding in the shadows over the future of Rome, in which a central role is played by Lucius’ scheming mentor Macrinus (Denzel Washington), a former slave with ambitions to rise all the way to the top.
Fred Hechinger (left) as Emperor Caracalla, Pedro Pascal as General Acacius and Joseph Quinn as Emperor Geta in Gladiator II.
Other key figures include a pair of youthfully seedy emperors (Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger), a ruthless yet well-meaning general (Pedro Pascal), who’s plotting to overthrow them, and Lucius’ aristocratic mother (Connie Nielsen, one of the only cast members returning from the first film), who takes a while to recognise her son.
Running through the script is a debate about the true nature of the Roman Empire, which at a pinch might be taken as an allegory for America in the present: can it be restored to its former glory or was this glory a fiction all along?
But we’re not obliged to take this too seriously – and the same goes for the ongoing moral dilemma Lucius faces, like his father before him. Survival as a gladiator depends on willingness to slaughter others who are in the same boat, but the film doesn’t dwell on this to a degree that might compromise our sympathy with the hero.
A loose and playful Denzel Washington plays Macrinus in Gladiator II.
In essence, it’s the mixture as before, with a prevailing air of solemnity supplying an alibi for the garishly violent set pieces. Maximus was pitted against multiple tigers; here we get a face-off between Lucius and a marauding rhino, followed by a re-enacted naval battle in a flooded arena, with sharks circling to devour combatants who fall overboard (the historical accuracy may be questionable, but no one can prove the Romans wouldn’t have done it if they could have).
While Gladiator II is not lacking in camp value, its portrayal of imperial decadence is notably reserved, even chaste by the standards of past Hollywood epics (not to mention Game of Thrones). That said, there are all kinds of ambiguities in Washington’s performance as Macrinus, which is loose and playful to an unexpected degree, especially in comparison to the huge, lumbering movie around him. In other roles, Washington’s unsettling yet irresistible grin is often a weapon kept tucked away until the time is right. But Macrinus smiles through scene after scene, leaving us guessing whether he’s out to disarm or intimidate or is just having fun.
Nobody enjoys the action in the Colosseum more than he does, though whether he’s responding mainly to the cruelty, the absurdity or the virtuosity on display is difficult to judge. Probably it’s a mix of all three, as with the others in the crowd who are baying for blood. At any rate, Scott seems to be telling us, that’s showbiz.
Gladiator II is released in cinemas on November 14.
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