Ephemeris of the Mind (Film Review) Gladiator II
Time to read: 2 min read
Movie Poster
The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
Previous Gladiator review:
Review
The story picks up many years after the events of the first Gladiator. The corrupt twins Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) are co-emperors of Rome. The Roman general Acacius (Pedro Pascal) invades and conquers the kingdom of Numidia, enslaving Hanno (Paul Mescal), a Numbidian warrior. Hanno is sold into slavery to become a gladiator.
Having just watched the first film, I can't help but compare and contrast it with the sequel. The story of the sequel is much more complex than the simple tale of revenge of the first film; there are many side plots outside of Hanno's revenge, such as Acacius and Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) planning a coup together. Some of the sideplots take away from the core story of Hanno's revenge and at the end, the target of his revenge has changed so many times that it loses its potency. As the protagonist, Mescal's Hanno also lacks the gravity and depth of Crowe's Maximus and likewise, his entire plot, such as the murder of his wife (Yuval Gonen), feels like a pale imitation of the story of Maximus. I quite enjoyed Denzel Washington's Macrinus but the story is so stupid and incoherent that Macrinus' motivations and actions don't really make sense near the end of the film.
The one upside of having a more complex plot is that more of the Roman society and world is shown, which I enjoyed. The combat is still expertly choreographed, including a large-scale naval battle, which is very cool. Overall, much like Happy Gilmore 2, the film and its plot relies on callbacks and references to the first film, which probably shows that the sequel probably would not have been a great film in its own right. Even the score is less memorable than Zimmer's from the first film. Despite the flaws (compared to the first film), the sequel is entertaining if you can shut off the logical part of your brain.
Conclusion
A lesser film in basically all respects (except the budget).