Gladiator II Review

Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn & Fred Hechinger. It is directed by Ridley Scott and is the follow up to the original Gladiator which was released in 2000. This follows Lucius Verus who is taken in as a gladiator and forced to compete in a Colosseum where he vows vengeance against General Acacius for the fall of his home. While the general plot of the film is the same as the previous Gladiator the themes are different. The main theme around the first Gladiator was vengeance while this one is about forgiveness.

Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger are exceptional as, Emperor Geta and Caracalla. As much as I despised them, I really wish that they were fleshed out a little more, even if that included more scenes that showed how the citizens of Rome interactions with the twins and how they respect them out of fear. I was talking to a friend about this film and she said one of her problems was that there are too many cutaways from the action sequences taking place in the Colosseum. While, that is true I do think that the action sequences are a lot better choreographed in this film as opposed to the original.

Some people may have a problem with Denzel Washington not having an accent while all the other actors in this movie do. However, Denzel Washington isn't that type of actor and I think it would’ve felt out of place and too distracting if he had an accent. I do enjoy General Acacius as an villain over Commodus simply for the fact that Acacius actually feels like a leader and he's not entirely “evil” in my opinion. Other than the twins I like the approach to try to humanize the villains a lot more.

Denzel Washington is always great and seeing him play the master manipulator whose controlling the strings behind the scenes was great. I think the final confrontation between Lucius Verus and General Acacius felt more unexpected after General Acacius finds out the “truth" about Lucius. Gladiator II may not be the best film of this year, however, I was still entertained by it. I understand a lot of people's disappointment in the film and I do understand their POV and some points I agree but it could've been worse.

Rating: 4/5