Stunning sequel

The sequel to Ridley Scott’s unforgettable original is a wonderful experience if you go with the expectation of having fun and being entertained by the spectacle of a high production value Hollywood blockbuster.

This film leans heavily towards the original template. It basically feels like an echo of the first film, with familiar elements like brutal warfare, palace intrigue, decapitations, power plays and the general brutishness of the Colosseum games. But none of these elements is given enough room to come through with great effect. The narrative plays for high stakes with low-level intrigue and a less-than-formidable cast.

‘Gladiator II’ is an entertaining spectacle of epic proportions no doubt, but it’s also not as memorable as the original. Scott basically attempts to achieve a certain standard and it may not be his best, but it’s definitely better than what he has achieved in the past decade of his career. When Mescal as Lucius, the ‘prime gladiator’ here, admits he does not have the strength of his father, we know that neither Mescal nor Scott is attempting to surpass the writ of the original. Instead, they have attempted to present a companion piece to the original and that’s not a bad thing either.

Sixteen years after the events of ‘Gladiator’, Lucius (Mescal) is taken captive after the defeat of Numidia by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal). An ambitious gladiator enthusiast, Macrinus (Washington), sees potential in the prisoner and takes control of his life from thereon. Lucius seeks revenge against Marcus for having murdered his wife Arishat (Yuval Gonen) and to that extent he is willing to do Macrinus’ bidding.

The plot of ‘Gladiator II’ is similar to that of the original — this is basically a New Gen version. Remember, Crowe’s Maximus became a gladiator after the murder of his family too. Screenwriter David Scarpa even adds twin emperors, Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), who seem just as vicious and snivelling as Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus from the original film.

This sequel goes bigger with its visuals, mixing cutting-edge VFX with practical ones. The intricate set design, a stand-in for ancient Rome, highlights imperial splendour and feels richly authentic. The Colosseum where the gladiatorial battles take place is befitting in scale and magnitude, but this alone is not enough to make this experience compelling. The intensity is lost in the battle between pixels. The battles look spectacular, the fights look ferocious but the overall effect is less than persuasive.

Most of the Colosseum fights are man versus beast fights so there’s not much variety there. Human stakes are sidelined for quite a bit of the runtime. The finale, while echoing Marcus Aurelius’ dream for Rome of the Senate, is not exactly heart-touching. The climax feels contained and achieved too easily.

Still, ‘Gladiator II’ is a visually stunning sequel that honours the original’s legacy while maintaining a visceral exclusivity that is indeed worth a watch.