Gladiator II (2024)

Gladiator II (2024)

A long (24 year) awaited sequel to the phenomenal Gladiator. Stylizing the title with Roman numerals instead of Gladiator 2 is a simple but not unnoticed marketing choice.

Laura’s Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Plot: After the powerful Roman army conquers his home, Hanno’s rage and talent for fighting bring him face to face with his enemies at the Colosseum. 

Opinion: Stunning visuals on a grand scale drive this historical epic, especially early on. Director Ridley Scott loves to open with a battle scene and after a quick setup, this film is no exception. The action begins with an epic battle and near immediate displays of brutality and heartbreak.

After witnessing the death of several people close to him, Hanno (Paul Mezcal) goes absolutely crazy in the gladiator arena and kills a terrifying dog monkey thing. That’s when I knew this movie was gonna be good.

Seeing the Colosseum cinematically restored to the height of its greatness is pretty cool. You can’t help but feel in awe of the grandeur and powerful imagery. There is, as promised in the trailers, an epic naval battle where they flood the coliseum and fill it with sharks. Was it a bit heavy on CGI? Yes. Was it still pretty cool? Also yes. 

There is some interesting character setup that is not simply well defined good vs evil. The side characters aren’t super developed, but the key players are nuanced and interesting. The evil (pretty straightforward evil in this one case) twin emperors are pretty good. They’re no Joaquin Phoenix, but they’re still unlikable and villainous. One of the twins is obsessed with his pet monkey, and I get that this is meant to showcase his mental instability, but it borders on cheesy for me. 

After a bold move by Hanno, there’s a brief Spartacus-esque scene where his fellow gladiators all volunteer to take the blame for his defiant actions, which I liked as a nod to another gladiator epic. 

The ending was just a bit abrupt for me. It felt like I skipped a few minutes and missed something and I would have rather the very last scene was taken out altogether, as it felt disjointed and forced in. 

I really enjoyed this film. I’m not sure a movie like Gladiator needed a sequel, but this was certainly a solid effort and it didn’t disappoint.