On November 15 2024 Gladiator II was released in the UK, 24 years after the incredible original starring Russell Crowe.
This time, it’s Paul Mescal in the lead role as Lucius, giving a good performance in spite of the big shoes he had to fill from Crowe’s iconic ‘Maximus Decimus Meridius’ in the first film.
Where Joaquin Phoenix played the antagonist ‘Commudus’ in 2000, Denzel Washington takes up the mantle of villain as ‘Macrinus’, giving what I think was the best performance of the movie, a job done worthy of the original.
If you think that I am comparing Gladiator II to the original a lot, that’s because they, in broad strokes, have a similar plot, and much of the second movie feels recycled.
They both follow a man who has lost everything, starts fighting with great success in the pits, is taught by a wiser mentor in order to enter the colosseum in a bid to exact revenge on the man who took everything from them in the first place.
But is the second movie better than the first?
No.
The bar is too high, set by a younger Ridley Scott, an incredible Russell Crowe, and an insurmountably good plot for any sequel to surpass.
One movie goer, Oliver Marshall, said that the movie was “A great watch, entertaining from the first scene right until the end.”
Overall, the movie seems to be dividing both the critics and fans but I found the movie to be enjoyable and exciting, if not as much as its prequel.
