Gladiator 2 (2024) is directed by Ridley Scott and stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Derek Jacobi, Yuval Gonen, Rory McCann, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, Tim McLnnery, Alexander Karim, and Lior Raz. The film follows Lucius (Mescal) 16 years after the events of Gladiator (2000). Because he was sent away as a boy following Maximus’ death, he now lives in Africa with his beloved wife. When he suffers a personal loss after the Romans conquer his home, Lucius vows to take revenge on their general, Marcus Acacius (Pascal). After the battle, he is captured and sold to Macrinus (Washington), a charismatic slaver with mysterious political aspirations. Forced into the Colosseum, Lucius fights to inspire the people to rise against their corrupt twin emperors, Geta (Quinn) and Caracalla (Hechinger), and restore Rome to its former glory. 

Although I’ve been hearing mixed opinions about the film’s performances, I find that they range from either serviceable to over-the-top fun. These “get crazy with it” performances of actors that include Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, and even Matt Lucas are sure to feel out of place for a portion of the audience, but I think they’re extremely entertaining and help to balance Paul Mescal’s stoic lead. The one larger-than-life performance the audience is sure to agree on, however, is Denzel Washington’s scene-stealing turn as Macrinus. He proves once again that he’s still one of the best actors in business, but it helps that his character is pretty cool too. I was a bit mixed, however, on the fact that the script takes far too long to reveal his motivations to the audience. The reveals themselves are exciting and make sense, but once we know whether to see him as a hero or villain, it’s almost a bit tough to accept. In other words, it needed more time to breathe, which speaks to some pacing issues considering the film is almost 2 ½ hours long. That being said, the mystery does help to move the story along by adding a nice element of intrigue. 

Paul Mescal plays things cold and emotionally subtle similar to Russell Crowe in the original. That being said, it’s unsurprisingly a step-down. He retains a similar sense of authority during the various action sequences, but his take on the character’s emotions is often just lethargy mixed with a few quick flashes of unhinged rage. He leads the film serviceably with his natural charisma, but it’s nothing special.

Pedro is well-cast as General Marcus Acacius and his few scenes are emotionally effective. Unfortunately, the character feels criminally underused and suffers from essentially having the same backstory as Maximus (Russell Crowe). It was disappointing, as well, that until his inevitable fight with Lucius, the two have zero interactions. It’s tough to invest oneself in Lucius’ grudge when their relationship is so impersonal. Story-wise, the intent of this choice is clear, I just don’t think it’s worth losing the ability to attach ourselves to Lucius’ thirst for vengeance – something that drives the first two acts of the film. 

Connie Nielsen as the main returning character is once again a breath of fresh air to a movie entirely dominated by testosterone. It doesn’t feel like she’s lost a single step acting-wise, and her character is reintroduced in a very satisfying way. Unfortunately, similar to Acacius, the script forgets to flesh out her relationship with Lucius. When we reach emotional climaxes involving their characters, it feels far too abrupt. At the very least, it works well enough if the viewer has the events of the first film fresh in their mind. 

The action is, maybe even more so than its predecessor, the star of the show. Battles are massive and appropriately tangible. It takes everything the first movie gave us and cranks it up a notch. The only visual element I was a bit mixed on was that some of the animals they use are clearly CGI. This is maybe for the best considering that regulations on using various forms of wildlife have become more strict over the years. That being said, it’s a strong way to break immersion because it stands out even more when everything else looks so real. Another little gripe with the action is, that although edge-of-your-seat, loses a bit of tension because there aren’t any secondary gladiator characters for us to care about. We know Lucius won’t die until at least the end, so why not provide a few people we can worry about in the meantime? 

I think the movie’s biggest flaw is that it feels a little derivative of the first film. There are enough welcome changes to avoid being called a carbon copy, but it too often features similar moments that are just slightly recontextualized or minimally expanded upon. It’s almost as if they said “We need to save some ideas for the third film” during the writing process. In other words, it feels like they were holding back because they were too nervous to offend the audience. This fear only more quickly archives that which they were trying to avoid. 

Overall, this a well-made and action-packed yet inevitably lesser sequel that features a few more divisive elements than I was expecting. That being said, I’m personally more positive about these elements than a lot of people seem to be. Thankfully, the film’s best element is also its most important: bloody, hold-your-breath gladiatorial combat. After 24 years, it also feels tonally and visually 1:1 with the original. However, it does feel a tad unnecessary in the sense that the first film still looks great to this day, so why feel the need to update it with such a similar take on the material? Either way, it’s still a step above most modern action blockbusters. If you complain about this being unnecessary, please don’t tell me how good the next Marvel entry is; you’ve lost all credibility. B+