Gladiator II
Back on top form, Ridley Scott returns to Rome with a bloodthirsty saga of rage and revenge.
Crash of the titans
Image courtesy of Paramount Studios
The buzz has been cacophonous and, to be sure, few filmmakers can do epic like Ridley Scott. Here, he is well served with a solid script by David Scarpa and a number of canny choices. When Paul Mescal was originally cast as Gladiator Jr, he was something of a commercial risk. However, his star has risen exponentially since then and everybody now wants a piece of him. Suitably bulked up, he brings a gravitas to the role of Lucius Verus, whose exceptionally beautiful wife (Yuval Gonen) is slain at the command of the invading Roman general Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal). Revenge will out…
The CGI-processed battle scenes are truly gobsmacking – this is what computer-generated imagery was made for: to recreate the spectacle of ancient Rome. And Ridley, now 86, has always had an exceptional eye for the quotidian in the generic. So, when Acacius’ battle fleet steams into the port of Numidia (the last free city in Africa) “for the glory of Rome,” he stands on the bow munching on a snack to accompany his latté (or whatever beverage he’s gulping in his goblet). It brings texture and real life to the bromide of the historical epic, something Hollywood always failed to do. It’s an incidental pleasure, too, to see the ground of the Coliseum raked in preparation for the next ‘entertainment’. It takes a director of some artistic confidence to provide such telling detail. And at 147 minutes, Gladiator II occupies its own space with sufficiency.
Commencing some sixteen years after the death of Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) in Ridley Scott’s Oscar-garlanded Gladiator (2000), the sequel presents an even more corrupt and sadistic Roman empire, ruled by the degenerate, power-hungry twins Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). There’s another engaging figure in the form of the morally equivocal Macrinus, a wily arms dealer who recognises the value of his slave Lucius, endowed with a commanding presence by Denzel Washington.
A full-blooded, extremely violent saga, Gladiator II ticks more than the requisite boxes, with the occasional mischievous aside (a nod to Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus). But with its gratuitous violence and thunderous sound effects, it remains a Hollywood movie and no more. And that’s what separates a movie from a film: in a film, when a person is punched in the face, it doesn’t sound like a pistol shot. And when here we first see the Roman general’s Salukis, they emit a whine for no other reason than to confirm their canine identity. But these are small gripes when Ridley Scott provides so much to be excited about, producing a truly head-spinning depiction of a civilisation out-of-control, 1,700 years before the rise of the Third Reich. And on an alleged budget of $210 million, the movie delivers plenty of bang for our buck, from the naval battle scenes to the marvels of the Coliseum, complete with monstrous baboons and a combatant rhinoceros. But the script is the thing, and the noble performance of Paul Mescal who emerges as a star before our very eyes. He, and the rest, are likely to send schoolchildren scuttling to their history books for more, which is no bad thing.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Tim McInnerny, Matt Lucas, Rory McCann, Peter Mensah, Yuval Gonen, Alexander Karim, Alec Utgoff, Russell Crowe.
Dir Ridley Scott, Pro Ridley Scott, Michael Pruss, Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and David Franzoni, Screenplay David Scarpa, Ph John Mathieson, Pro Des Arthur Max, Ed Claire Simpson and Sam Restivo, Music Harry Gregson-Williams, Costumes Janty Yates, Sound Alyn Sclosa, Michael Fentum, Paul Carter and Rowan Watson, Dialect coach Budgie Salam.
Scott Free Productions/Red Wagon Entertainment/Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation-Paramount Pictures.
147 mins. USA/UK. 2024. UK Rel: 15 November 2024. US Rel: 22 November 2024. Cert. 15.
