Gladiator II
Thinking about Romans? You’ll leave thinking about riled Baboons, Rhinos, sharks in the Coliseum and war ships!
Less nuanced and less a protagonist story driven than the original Gladiator, we jump straight into the spectacle — and the spectacle is spectacular. I’m not sure how Ridley Scott keeps his actors alive! The Romans are invading from the sea and we get a terrific set piece of war ships approaching, ramming city walls and taking down a people into defeat and enslaved captivity.
Lucius (Paul Mescal), implied peaceful farmer and loving husband, is among those taken prisoner — and still in mourning for his dead wife. However, there’s no time for any of this ‘cos we’re onto the Coliseum. In full blood lust mode, two evil twin emperors enjoy watching maximalist set pieces — losers versus riled Baboons (who look emaciated and very, very underfed adding to their rage); men versus Rhino and war ships versus each other (in a flooded stadium filled with sharks). We have no idea what Lucius thinks or feels about any of this because after a slight demur over killing and trying to protect his leader Jubartha (Peter Mensah), he seems quite happy to jump in, killing and particularly killing his fellow gladiators. There’s no link to the impressionable, clever small boy of the original film in character, nor do we get the protective intelligence of the first film. Though we do see in flashbacks how he was hunted and ended up in Numidia, becoming a different person with a new name.
The giggly twin Emperors are fully mad, bad and dangerous to know — enjoying the bloodlust spectacle, partying while Rome burns and sporting small monkeys in togas as a fashion accessory. But I’m not sure who they’re related to or how we came to get to this point, only that time has passed. Somehow Lucila (Connie Nielsen) has managed to stay alive, continue intriguing and is probably married to a fabulously honourable General Justus Acacius (Pedro Pascal). Again, there’s less threat or motivation than last time, the Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Emperor Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) just wanna have fun — at everyone else’s expense (and probably deaths).
Buying and training Gladiators up this time is Macrinus (Denzel Washington) who lights up the screen and chews the scenery to devastating effect every time he appears. He’s bought his freedom — and is going to use it to achieve power, through ‘serving’ the Emperors (mostly himself) — and manipulating partying sycophant Senator Thraex (Tim McInnery). When General Justus Acacius refuses to kill for killings sake, the giggly Emperors are enraged and force him into the arena — fighting against those he recently captured and enslaved. This one is not going to go well.
Exploring the exercise of power, rather than showing us character journeys, we see brutally what happens when people are exposed to and offered power. Abuse and apathy is the answer. Even Lucila faces her moment of horror — in the arena. (Which seems to be the consequence of dabbling in power). Never quite knowing if the Emperors are going to crown you with honour, suffocate you with rose petals at a party or cut your head off, Macrinus takes its natural conclusion — by crowning himself, flirting with senators and cutting off heads. There’s even an honouring of the cute little monkey with a moment of greatness.
Anyone voting recently really should have watched this movie as a caution about who you let have power. Even when the leaders with the power are shown to be crazed and corrupt, the horrified senators do nothing but applaud. Only a gladiator leading an army can stop the folly.
Entertained? You will be — the spectacle is overpoweringly spectacular and a visual feast. But the issue is the script — characters and their motivations are never given breathing space, resulting in the main Gladiator character feeling quite shallow. Somehow General Justus Acacius and Macrinus fill the space in this shallowness. Lucius doesn’t really seem to react to things as his original film namesake did — he easily accepts life in the arena after a quick demur, he happily kills and equally easily accepts a reunion with his mother after another quick demur. In the first movie, thinking time, reflection was given to allow character to build — we understood who they were, what they were about, the connections between them all. For example, I couldn’t work out how the twins and Lucila were related — how had she been excluded from power, despite her son given safety by Marcus Aurelius, and how had they been given power?
We never really get to see how Lucius is feeling — we know that he hates Rome and Romans following the death of his wife Arishat (Yuval Gonen) in the invasion. But there isn’t the same sense of loss or vengeance conveyed. Nor, knowing who he really is, is there the sense of conflicted identities. Lucius keeps losing mothers (his own mother, his surrogate mother) — this doesn’t come across in the script. Lucila seems to be both a caring and a careless mother — she sends her son away to protect him rather than ruling through him, and yet seems to lose track of who or where he is until he turns up as a adult. Given how much she loved her son in the original, this poor parenting seems unlikely — we don’t get a sense of her grief and loss in not knowing if her son is alive or dead, or her joy in recognising him again. Lucius also has a lot to live up to if Marcus Aurelius really is his father. Nor do we really come to understand why the gladiator trainer Viggo (Lior Raz) is so hated, as he really only seems to be doing his job. Also lacking is a Zimmer score — the score is more generic this time, partly a rehash of the first one.
Overall, enjoy it to be entertained (including some lovely animation at the beginning), enjoy the magnificent sets and crowds, and horrified by the abundant gory spectacle. There’s also some fabulous historical hair (proper Roman up-do’s) to enjoy, though sadly not on Lucila. The war ships are absolutely thrilling and it feels more like a ‘60’s sword and sandals caper than the strength and honour of its namesake. You’ll also come away worrying about concussed Rhinos.
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