Gladiator II evaluation: This sequel falls in need of its masterpiece predecessor however continues to be heaps of farfetched and ferocious enjoyable
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Gladiator II (Paramount Pictures)
For some, the original Gladiator 24 years ago was Sir Ridley Scott’s masterpiece. Mind you, he also gave us Alien, Blade Runner and Thelma & Louise, not to mention the famous 1973 advert for Hovis, the one with the delivery boy pushing his bike up the steep cobbled street – ‘T’was like taking bread to the top of the world!’ – to the strains of Dvorak’s New World Symphony.
As uphill struggles go, that was a breeze compared to the 20-plus years it has taken to get Gladiator II from the drawing board to the screen.
But the job is now done and, even though this sequel rarely scales the soaring heights of the first film, and takes some right Roman liberties with historical truths, it is still worthy of a firm-ish thumbs-up.
Normal People star Paul Mescal in the Paramount Pictures Gladiator II
Lucius played by Paul and Marcus Acacius played by The Last Of Us star Pedro Pascal
It stars the excellent Paul Mescal as Lucius, the young nephew of dastardly Emperor Commodus in the first film.
Lucius hasn’t seen his mother, Commodus’s sister Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), for years. He has somehow wound up in Numidia, North Africa, where he has forged a whole new life, not to mention a mighty set of grown-up muscles.
Lucius has been living there in connubial bliss, but that is about to change. From across the Mediterranean, the Roman fleet is coming, led by formidable general Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal).
Lucius leads the Numidian resistance bravely, but in vain. He and his fellow soldiers are shipped off to Rome as slaves and, just to intensify his grievances, you can imagine what happens to his comely wife. Nothing good.
Throughout, you can almost hear the cogs in Scott’s mind turning like chariot wheels as he and screenwriter David Scarpa contrive unsubtle parallels with the original film, in which, as you’ll recall, Russell Crowe’s Maximus Decimus Meridius was ‘father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife’.
Soon, just like Maximus before him, Lucius has been picked out for his thunderous gladiatorial qualities.
A shady arms dealer called Macrinus (Denzel Washington, camping up his lines with barely-concealed glee) makes him his champion, observing that ‘rage pours out of you like milk’.
Certainly, Lucius is not cowed by anything the Colosseum can throw at him, from killer baboons to, in a cinematic flourish all but guaranteed to make historians of ancient Rome throw their textbooks at the screen, a saddled-up warrior-rhinoceros.
Paul pictured amid a Gladiator fight
Macrinus played by The Equalizer star Denzel Washington
And let’s not even start on the savage sharks brought in to pep up the recreation of a naval battle.
Meanwhile, Rome has become a cesspit of depravity and corruption under the rotten rule of slimy emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and his twin Caracalla (Fred Hechinger).
Hechinger is said to have modelled Caracalla on Johnny Rotten, while the syphilitic Geta was reportedly inspired in part by Sid Vicious.
Having warmed to the rhino and the sharks I’m all for this unlikely fusion of ancient Rome and the Sex Pistols.
The emperors’ over-the-top ghastliness borders on the comedic but then it’s best not to take any of this seriously.
Predictably, there is no limit to the wild imperial ambitions of Geta and Caracalla. With Numidia successfully annexed, Acacius is ordered to conquer Persia and India next.
A properly decent cove, he realises that the terrible twins – think Jedward in togas – are bad news for Rome. So he plots with his wife, none other than fragrant Lucilla, to overthrow them.
Lucilla is all for a coup d’etat but, before that, she has an important family matter to attend to, having realised that Lucius is her long-lost son. He has made the connection too but at first, wants nothing to do with her.
Emperor Geta played by Game Of Thrones star Joseph Quinn
Lucilla played by Wonder Woman star Connie Nielsen
There is also the inconvenient detail that he has sworn to kill her husband, Acacius, whom we now know to be his stepfather.
As for his real father, we already know his identity from the film’s trailer, so this can’t count as a spoiler.
Lucius is the son of the heroic but long-dead Maximus, which certainly explains why he can subdue a killer baboon while throwing into confusion everything we were led to believe by the first film.
Yes, Scott’s lofty disregard for historical verities extends even to his own narrative but let’s not hold that against him. At the age of 86, the old boy still knows how to craft a sword-and-sandals epic, so to hell with the facts.
Gladiator II opens in cinemas on Friday.
