There are two times of year, broadly speaking, when nothing is better than walking into a megaplex to view a megamovie on a gigantic screen: summer and the holiday season.
My dad and I sat down in front of an IMAX screen to do just that this week, with a tub of popcorn and enough soda to make a pilgrim explode, ready for the scale and scope — the capital-M Movie-ness — of Gladiator II to wash over us.
In that regard, Gladiator II hits its mark. There are rousing speeches, massive sets, snarling baboons, bulging muscles and bloody battles. There are even sharks swimming around in the Colosseum, champing at the bit to eat injured gladiators!
But everything feels a bit familiar. There’s a soldier with a dead wife, seeking revenge through gladiatorial combat. There’s scheming around who truly belongs atop a decaying Roman Empire. British character actors run amok.
The original Gladiator is among the most successful movies of the past quarter-century, earning more than $450 million at the box office — the second-highest total of 2000. It won five Oscars, including for Best Picture and Best Actor. It has inspired countless homages and references. (The “Are you not entertained” GIF alone will last as long as there is an internet.) A sequel was inevitable. But the fact that it took 24 years to come up with what is essentially a remake of the first movie is a bit disappointing.
Indie darling Paul Mescal steps into the lead role as Lucius Verus, making the jump from acclaimed performances in small-budget films to a major blockbuster, bringing about questions of his movie star bona fides. The movie doesn’t do Mescal any favors with its carbon-copy plotting of the original. Russell Crowe gave one of the all-time movie star performances as Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator, a rock star at the peak of his powers. That’s not the kind of actor Mescal is. He may not be able to re-create Crowe’s brand of magic, but he brings a smoldering intensity to the role. There's always so much going on behind Mescal’s eyes, even when he’s being attacked by a man-eating primate.
For those anticipating a movie-star performance, luckily Denzel Washington is there to fill that void as Macrinus, a bisexual former slave who has worked his way to the inner circle of Roman society. Macrinus is cruel, funny and swaggering — Oscar buzz seems a bit overboard, but it’s a truly scene-stealing turn.
Ridley Scott’s latest opens this week at Regal and AMC locations
Everyone’s favorite space cowboy, Pedro Pascal, plays acclaimed Roman general Marcus Acacius, a villain with a conscience. He's married to Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla, one of only two returning cast members from the original film. Lucilla sees signs of her former lover Maximus in Mescal’s Lucius. Is it a coincidence or something more? The film can’t help but thrust Mescal into Crowe’s sandals at every turn.
Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger have a blast as the vile Emperors Geta and Caracalla. They aren’t as captivating as Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus, but they sure are adept at making the audience hate them. Especially Hechinger, who could end up in two of this year’s Best Picture nominees, between this and the exquisite Nickel Boys.
Eighty-six-year-old Ridley Scott returns behind the camera, showing that he still has the juice to pull off a film with an epic scale — something he dipped his toes back into with last year’s Napoleon as well. Gladiator II isn’t nearly as affecting as Scott's excellent The Last Duel, but it showcases some of the director’s greatest strengths.
Gladiator II may feel like an overly familiar rehash of the original, but what’s better than microwaved leftovers after Thanksgiving? It’s the perfect movie to go see with your family over the holidays.
