Gladiator II review: Ridley Scott’s $470 million sword-and-sandal epic ultimately falls short of the original

Are you not entertained? Well one might ask that after watching Ridley Scott’s $470 million Gladiator II, but this sword-and-sandal epic ultimately falls short of the original. From flashbacks and retcons to a fistful of Colosseum sand (what passes for a paternity test in Ancient Rome, apparently), Gladiator II wastes a significant portion of its entirely too long 150-minute runtime on making sure the audience knows this isn’t a standalone story. But maybe it should’ve been, because the least successful parts of the new film are when it draws direct comparisons to the original and Maximus, the character that earned Russell Crowe an Academy Award for best actor in 2001. Mescal looks more authentically Roman than Crowe ever did and brings considerable acting chops to the role of Lucius — who was just a wee boy in the original movie. The sequel finds Lucius all grown up in Numidia, circa 200AD, where he has been effectively exiled for 16 years since the events of the original, in which he witnessed Maximus slay his uncle, Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). These days Rome is under the crazed rule of bloodthirsty twin emperors, Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), who are obsessed with expanding their empire. General Acacius (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with achieving that goal, and his conquest of Numidia kills Lucius’ missus and turns him into a captured slave, destined to fight in the Colosseum. After coming into the possession of the devious Macrinus (Denzel Washington), Lucius agrees to channel his rage into gladiatorial excellence if his new owner can help him get revenge on Acacius. Spoiler alert: Acacius is married to his mum, Lucilla, played here and in the original by Connie Nielsen. But Lucius will first have to survive a series of brutal encounters in the arena (which the production recreated in painstaking detail in Malta), including, but not limited to, hand-to-hand combat with legitimately terrifying baboons and a naval battle reenactment, complete with sharks. Did Ridley jump the shark himself with that last one? Perhaps, but the fight scenes are otherwise visceral and arguably better than those of the original. Washington is outstanding, too, and looks like he’s having the time of his life, while Mescal, in his first blockbuster, does the best he can with a screenplay that is notably lacking in memorable quotes. You can rattle off two or three lines from the original, even if you haven’t seen it in a decade, but you’ll struggle to remember a single thing Mescal says in the sequel by the time you’ve gotten to the cinema car park. Scott is a master of spectacle, and, from that perspective, Gladiator II is a success. However, as Maximus famously said, “What we do in life echoes in eternity”, and, unlike the original, it’s hard to see this sequel reverberating a quarter of a century from now. 3 stars Starring: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington Rating: M In cinemas: Now