The first Gladiator movie came out in 2000. Gladiator 2 just came out, 24 years later. Usually that would seem like a ridiculously long time for a sequel to come out, but thanks to streaming and "Peak TV," it seems like everything is continuing on years later.
I can't even remember everything that's been dusted off and returned, sometimes decades later, but it does seem like everything. I couldn't even fathom, years ago, that we'd ever see a new season of Twin Peaks, another go-around of The Dark Crystal, a new Willow, or a new Evil Dead. Those shows and movies seemed destined to be in the history bin, yet they returned, decades later. And those are just the ones I actually was fans of back in the day. There's been a new Karate Kid, a new Beetlejuice, a new Roseanne, a new Full House, a new Frasier. Is nothing sacred? It's actually getting ridiculous. Gladiator actually won the Oscar for Best Picture, and seems to be a popular movie, so it never really disappeared out of people's minds. The only reason it seemed to be that they never made a sequel earlier was because the main character, played by Russell Crowe, died in the movie. They couldn't really make a sequel unless it starred his ghost or other characters, and a prequel wouldn't make sense because he wasn't a gladiator yet. 24 years later they've finally found a solution by having Russell Crowe's character's son be the new gladiator.
The last time I actually watched the original Gladiator was probably in theaters in May of 2000. Considering it was named Best Picture at the Oscars, you'd expect that it was some great, dramatic, suspenseful, awesome film. It wasn't. The sequel isn't, either, although the action scenes and battle scenes are entertaining and exciting.
The basic plot has Paul Mescal playing Russell Crowe's son. He was sent away from Rome and is now married and living in North Africa. The Roman army shows up, led by Pedro Pascal, and there's a gigantic battle. Paul Mescal ends up a slave and is bought by Denzel Washington's character, who plays a seedy political player that has eyes on the Roman throne. Mescal becomes a gladiator in the Coloseeum and the rest is history.
While there is no chariot race in this movie, everything else is pretty much what you expect. They've decided that everyone has attention deficit disorder now, so every battle is somewhat different. Mescal has to fight CGI monkeys in one battle. Another features a guy riding a rhino. There's a boat battle on a flooded Coloseeum. All of them are at least exciting to watch. The problem is when there is no action going on. Denzel Washington seems to be having a good time playing an Iago-like villain, manipulating everyone for his own good, but he doesn't really become the big bad until the end. Pedro Pascal doesn't have much to do in this film, and his wife, who is apparently Paul Mescal's secret mother, has a storyline that isn't all that interesting. The rulers of Rome in this film are two brothers who are more zany and goofy than threatening, thus negating any kind of hero/villain drama much needed for most of the film.
Gladiator 2 plays out exactly how you expect. There's the rousing gladiator speech at the end, the bloodthirsty Colosseum crowds that soon side with the gladiator, the Roman crowds walking around in white togas, the dungeons below the Colosseum filled with shadows and chains.
If you're looking for something fresh, amazing, new, and masterful, this movie certainly isn't it, but it gives you what you want; heads being lopped off, arrows through chests, knives in necks, arm to arm combat, knife to knife combat, sword to sword combat.
Russell Crowe was a real movie star, mostly meaning he was famous and well known. Paul Mescal is a good actor but I doubt the majority of people even know who he is. That's a bit of a problem since he doesn't have that presence of big time movie star in a film that's big as life and super expensive. He pretty much gets swallowed up by it and falls into Denzel's shadow.
While the action sequences are good, this film pretty much falls into the same trap that all these re-boots and sequels decades later fall into; it's cool that they're back, we're all excited and glad to see them again but, honestly, they never turn out to be excellent, so what's the point? **1/2
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