Gladiator II

I think I’ve seen this film before…but executed better

The first time I watched “Gladiator” my immediate thoughts were, “That was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. I really hope no one tries to make a sequel.” And then Ridley Scott did just that. So I was thoroughly unsurprised when “Gladiator II” was announced, though I did try to be optimistic. That optimism was unfortunately misplaced. I was entertained… but for all the wrong reasons. 

“Gladiator II” opens with an artistic montage of scenes from first film, which makes it clear from the outset this sequel would be heavily influenced by its predecessor. There are several nods to the original film conducted through the recreation of iconic shots, references to the most memorable lines, and the clear desire to create the same gravitas. Although this was to be expected, I still held out hope that as the movie progressed, that it would start to develop its own identity. 

However, as time went on, it became increasingly evident this film would  be more than just referential. Not only does “Gladiator II” hit many of the same story beats as the original, the narrative structure is nearly identical. Including so many of the same elements as the original movie wouldn’t have been that bad, if this sequel had also incorporated a more original and cohesive narrative. 

There is one major difference between the two. It appears as though someone forgot to give our main character a compelling motivation for the sequel. The first film allows the audience to spend at least 30 - 45 minutes getting to know Maximus before his time in the arena even begins. Spending this amount of time with Maximus provides the audience with the time needed to understand, sympathize with, and relate to him. It was easy to identify and sympathize with Maximus because everything he did aligned with everything we learned about him. Taking time to lay the groundwork prior to the story’s main events was essential to making him such a compelling main character.  

On the other hand “Gladiator II” does very little in the way of  being specific as to why Lucius, the main character,  is personally compelled to become a gladiator. Aside from his natural instinct to survive when facing the atrocities of the arena. He is on screen for maybe a total of 10 minutes before being immediately thrown directly onto the path of becoming a gladiator. 

The desire to seek revenge for his wife’s murder (wonder where I’ve seen that before) is presented as being the primary motivating factor for Lucius’s actions. However, his wife is killed in battle at the very beginning of the film. The movie itself is then forced to admit how inherently futile it is to seek revenge for something that occurred in this manner, despite his disdain for the Roman Empire. When tasked with the question, “Whose head do you want?” Lucius responds by saying, “The entire Roman army.” Which, is then pointed out to him as being, “Too much,” forcing him to change his answer.  The lack of specificity to this motivation instantly deprives both the character, and the audience, of the chance to understand his personal experience. A compelling main character is essential for audiences being  invested in the gravity of circumstances, while still being able to appreciate the exciting and fantastical nature of the situation. 

Speaking of the fantastical nature of this film, the action scenes are one of the few places where “Gladiator II” excels. Despite the somewhat liberal use of CGI, the arena fights are nothing short of enthralling. The way battles are choreographed does manage to capture all of the anticipation and suspense they did in “Gladiator”. One surprising but welcomed difference between the two films is that there are a couple of excellent fights sequences that don’t occur within the arena. While I thoroughly enjoyed the arena fights in “Gladiator”, it was both interesting and exciting to see the same over the top action occur off the main stage. Changing the setting definitely added a more intense and personal nature to the fights making them more interesting to watch. 

In a way, this only made matters worse because I wanted to like this film. There are moments sprinkled throughout, mostly at the beginning, where it appears as though they had the right ingredients to make a good, or half-way decent sequel. The casting is well done, although I think we maybe spend a bit too much time with Denzel Washington’s character.

However, the execution gives me the impression that there were too many cooks in the kitchen when making the final product. The few and far between elements that aren’t directly derived from the original are strong. These parts of the film had the potential to not only be interesting, but stand on their own if expanded upon. Instead, they were immediately hijacked then buried under a mountain of references to the first “Gladiator”, which is a real shame. 

Surprisingly, I would still recommend seeing it for what it is, in spite of its flaws. If for no other reason than to remind yourself to re-watch the original if you haven’t in a while.