Let me start by saying that Gladiator is the most perfect of films, which always felt like it would have been hard to make a follow-up on. This sequel, more than 20 years later, with a mostly new cast appeared to be more like a legacy sequel than a continuation of the first, which would have been pretty impossible anyway with the main character, who’s like 90% what the first film was about too, dead. So then this sequel's trailer didn't film me with much hope either, it looked like it was attempting to be bigger but not better, more cgi heavy and lacking a real powerful story. And well that all pretty much comes true too. While it indeed appears to attempt to be bigger than the first and it does have a siege battle, more extravagant characters, more cgi scenery and wilder gladiator fights, it's not enough to actually achieve it. I also feel it actually held back in creating some epic set pieces, choosing for less impressive resolutions instead.

It was always going to be hard to meet the impeccable narrative of, ''The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor''. And having anything of a leading man as impactful as Crowe seemed impossible too. And that's the main problem with Gladiator II, the story and the characters are just not as meaningful and good as that of the first film. In itself this could perhaps feel interesting, but when offsetting it against the first film it simply pales in comparison.

And despite its mostly fictional story, Gladiator felt and looked very authentic, while part II is just more artificial and faux in that way. The soundtrack pretty much borrows from the first film and adds some flavors to it and as a whole is just not as epic as the one from the first. Going from Zimmer to Gregson-Williams clearly makes a difference. So it's just hard to not compare it negatively, but that's also about where my criticism stops I guess.

Because, Gladiator II manages to be quite entertaining still. The leads are good, Denzel has some good moments, I definitely enjoyed seeing Nielsen (and Jacobi, though he’s actually wasted) in the role again and Mescal is very good as an adult Lucius as well. The film doesn't do too well with Pascal, he isn't bad, but also just not imposing enough and the two emperors are a bit hit and miss. There's plenty of well choreographed action, which keeps the film pacing along well, but I could have done with less spectacle and better, more creative, storytelling instead. It just gets a bit much to see gladiators fighting hybrid monkey type creatures and sharks in the Colosseum.

The best parts about the film are the moments that connect it and essentially bring tribute to the first film. They are cool and add a bit more depth to the story of the first film. It's just too bad they didn’t have a better new story to mix it in with. The idea in itself, to 15 years later continue the story of Lucius isn’t bad, but the choices of how to further it just border on the meh or uncreative. So, while I admit my review is more negative than positive, it’s still a mostly spectacular entry of a swords and sandals experience and I do appreciate those tie-ins with the original film. There’s also this one moment, Anyway, all in all, loving the first film, I can only look at this unfavorably in comparison, yet what I like most about it is how it draws back on it also. And if just looking at it independently it's still a fun time.

B+

A lousy boilerplate cash-grab sequel that has no right to existence. It tarnishes the dignity of the first as it is cheaper in every single way. This time it's a senile Ridley Scott versus a competent one in 2000; cut-price composer Harry Gregson-Williams is brought in for maestro Zimmer; Paul Mescal impersonates Russell Crowe but doesn't have 1% of the presence. Ridley hasn't been capable of producing a good movie in years, but man, that was shoddy. Really shoddy. Nobody with any credibility wanted to come back for the sequel. Instead we get this David Scarpa dude. The genius behind classics such as The Last Castle, All the Money in the World, and the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. What a signing!

It was a complete mess. I do not see how any fan of the original can like this film. The fights were very carelessly choreographed and edited. It really felt like it was made for television. Denzel Washington is out of place. Pedro Pascal looks like he doesn't want to be there. I don't know what the hell those twins were all about. Caricatures of Commodus, perhaps. And sharks in the Colosseum ... farcical. Whether you can find a historian (read: guy on the Internet) that claims it was fact, it doesn't matter. There will always be that guy that claims things were accurate. What does my gut tell me? It is just nonsense and I do not buy it.

The way the film copies the original is also shameful, and sprinkled with a few thin references to fool people that this is a legit sequel? This film has no actual purpose. The definition of a greedy attempt to make money. Ridley has shat all over his one true masterpiece, all for a few bucks. And apart from the intro and outro, the music is completely different. It goes close but then just as it's about to emulate the original score it deviates to a different key. Such a botch job. It's almost as if they weren't given permission to use the original score. And the only actor that came back was Connie Nielsen (nobody cares about you, Derek). I really got the feeling while watching this that anyone with any integrity could see this was a car crash waiting to happen.

Honestly it would have been better if they didn't package it up as a Gladiator sequel. Just make a new story about Roman times and endure the jibes for a few weeks regarding its similarity to Gladiator. I would rather that than what they actually did, which was Ridley Scott seeing the Mona Lisa, tearing it in half, shitting over one half, then wiping his ass with the other. This was just not the way to make a Gladiator sequel if one chooses to do so. So many wrong choices. Lazy Ridley just could not wait to get this out. It felt like only a moment ago that it was announced, now it's in cinemas, and as such the film feels rushed. There is zero emotion and atmosphere here. You don't care whether "Hanno" lives or dies. You don't care about the fire inside him or what motivates him. You care even less about his wife dying. Once he sees mommy again he doesn't care either!

But was there anything good about the film? Well, yes. One thing, and that thing is Matt Lucas as the Colosseum orator. I thought he was brilliant. Loud, articulate, and campy. He complements the current rulers well. A shining gem among a piss-poor cast. Unfortunately, nobody else was a value-add, not even Denzel.

So, in conclusion; fuck Ridley Scott, and fuck whatever he makes from now on. He is dead to me.

Good and entertaining enough to justify its existence though an obvious step down from the original. I think legs and WOM will be fine here. This is a solid B here for me.

Mescal is very bland, totally lacking Crowe's charisma, and there is much, much less build up to his time before slavery than Crowe's Maximus received, which isn't helpful. Denzel is great, though he truly hams up one scene too far ("I need POWAAAAAAH"). Neilson and Pascal are good though Pedro has very little to do. The emperors feel ridiculous.

The final act goes a bit off the rails, and ending very rushed and anti-climatic, with the 2 armies facing off never feeling as though they're truly about to fight. Once again, we do not fully understand what is so wrong with Rome that we should are our characters care for the status of the city.

Feels like yet another long "PART 2" which would have been better off as a 2-part story as there is too much going on to properly flesh out all of the relevant storylines, with the first part much better establishing Lucious and what is becoming of Rome, ending just after Acaius sudden death. Part being everything that happens afterwards.

This movie is entertaining but also incredibly stupid and a massive step down from the original. The story feels like a Disney straight-to-video sequel in the way that it is executed and none of the performances save for Denzel Washington are very good (and this is a shame because Paul Mescal is one of our best working actors at the moment). So much of the dialogue is cringeworthy.

Sounds like this is yet another Ridley movie with a 4 hour director's cut coming one day. He should've just started making mini series at some point in his career.

He has already hinted at that.

It is annoying how he does this, then everyone says the movie is good, and it lives on with credibility. When in reality a good movie does not need a complete overhaul/recut to make it passable.

It's best to go into this with very low expectations to enjoy it. Though at least its not Napoleon level bad.

Impossible to do when you have the original looming large in the background.

Paul Miscast def. drags it down but the script is a clunk.

Wow what a mess lol. I wanna say there's a good movie in here, but I don't think a 4 hour directors cut is the answer. Instead I would hack off the first 40 minutes or so (start the film with the rhino scene) and add some padding to the rest of the movie. All of the action scenes fall flat because there's no build to them. They start and they are over just as quickly. We need a scene of someone shouting "you can't put sharks in the colliseum!", then a scene of them filling it with water and then showing a few random slaves get chomped by the sharks as they go about this endeavor. Build the fucking spectacle! That's just the problem with one scene, but it also reflects the movie, which is just bouncing from one scene between Lucius reliving the glory of his now-father (and being quite jovial about it, which doesn't exactly mesh up with his bloody revenge story - especially with that doctor) and Denzel playing Littlefinger (these are the best parts of the movie though. He carries it hard.) Overall though, the movie isn't even worth the amount of words I've already put in here so I'll just stop.

4.4/10

Oh one more thing - the best part is when Callacus names the monkey as his First Consul. I was cracking up for like a whole minute after. Which was slightly awkward when no one else in the theater found it funny.

I actually thought they were pretty similiar. You have one a-list actor playing it comedically while everyone else is deadly serious (they think they're so great cause they have BOATS!) and the battle scenes have no life. In retrospect, The Last Duel being good is kind of a miracle. I'm gonna go ahead and assume that Affleck was actually doing most of the directing there.

I'm in the middle of Napoloen's directors cut and I'm kind of enjoying the cringe relationship with him and Josephine and comedy like saying to the British you think you're so great because you have boats! or asking soldier if he thinks going down first helps get women pregnant.

While it is similar to the original, the improved special effects and fight sequences push this slightly over the original for me.

I was very invested in some of the fights despite not caring that much about the characters, that’s how good the fights are here

I went to see this a second time with some colleagues and ended up feeling this isn't very rewatchable. Knowing what was going to happen clearly took some excitement out of watching it. And while I initially liked the throwbacks to first film, it came across as a cheap way to lift on the goodwill of that film this time around for me. But what bothers me the most about this sequel now, is how much of it is the same as the first one. Pretty much any and all creativity is missing with this film, at least with the story especially. They just didn't lay a very good foundation for this film and while it still manages to deliver some popcorn entertainment as a result, it's valid to question the necessity of this sequel. The film looks good however and also has some nice elements in itself, I liked the dual emperors more this time and it's just fun to see exotic Colosseum battles. And Denzel simply manages to hold the film together, with his presence and also the setting of ancient Rome and the action scenes, it still made it worth seeing once.

Denzel gives a peak Russell Westbrookian performance. Incredible to watch but not exactly making anyone else on the team look like a winner.

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It's existence nullifies the ending of the original. It doesn't continue the story it just remakes it, minus a kid for Mescal and his as soon as you see her you know she's gonna die wife. Yet it flashbacks to it every chance it gets.

I got restless 20 minutes in, pretty much right after the dead wife. It tries nothing new, which I wouldn't mind so much if it were entertaining. It's, for the most part though, not. You know what I shouldn't be during any gladiator movie? Bored.

Paul Mescal can fight but he's not intimidating. I thought at the beginning that maybe he'd make a good Bond, but as the film went on that thought quickly went away. He's not bad, just badly miscast. It's also not a good sign when Denzel has to remind him and the audience every few minutes that he's fueled by rage and that's what makes him great. Maybe that rage is in the four hour cut? Or it's all internalized. Or it doesn't exist in the performance. His most rageful moment is when his mom first comes to visit him after she figures out who he is. That makes sense, but it's also weird.

The action is...fine? The CGI blows, but the opening attack is good and I also liked (as dumb as it is) the shark fight, though when you think about it the gladiators don't have to fight so much as just try to push one another in the water. Also, even though this didn't happen, how in this universe did the Romans trap the sharks and then transport them? And what's the need for an island if you're not going to use it movie? Chekov's Island.

Denzel good, but we knew he was going to be heading in so who cares?

If they make a III maybe it'll be good because they'll finally have to ditch the Coliseum and not rely on the exact beats of the original. Or maybe it'll suck because Ridley hasn't made anything truly good since The Martian.

C

Any chance we can get Nick Cave's script for II back for part III where Maximus is sent back to Earth by the gods to kill Jesus Christ and his followers? That sounds like fun. It also sounds like the batshit idea Ridley needs because I think the only reason he's still directing is because he believes if he doesn't he'll die not because he actually has any stories left that he wants to tell.

Very, very true. He has this nonchalant attitued throughout, which can be either boredom or immaturity as an actor. It flet like he didn't know how to play the part. Either way he shouldn't be in the film. Ridley should be getting more out of him but he should also be bringing way more to the table than he did.