Gladiator 2

Paul Mescal

What a dull film Ridley Scott's Gladiator 2 is despite its many bloody fracases, Roman decadence, wicked twin Emperors, and an entertainingly grandstanding Denzel Washington. The aura of Scott's gift for spectacle dims because the film feels like a retread instead of a reinvention. Everything about the new film is a pale facsimile of the first one starting with leading man Paul Mescal. Russell Crowe is a bloated and self-parodying shadow of his former self these days having become drunk on his own grunts, but during the era of Gladiator he was one of our finest film actors. Mescal is a pretty good pick for a sensitive sort, but lacks the machismo of  a Crowe. Even in a bulked up form, Mescal looks like he would last thirty seconds with the MMA and WWF rejects Scott has assembled as his gladiators.

The battles royales of Gladiator 2 seem less vivid and imaginative this time. I thought the feral CGI monkeys looked particularly fake. I remember seeing the trailer for the first film, mostly shots of a tiger assaulting Mr. Crowe as a Kid Rock song blared, and thinking that it was brilliant marketing. At last, a sword and sandal epic was jettisoning the Victorian conventions employed by Hollywood and exemplified by Cecil B. DeMille. The film was a hit because it pandered to a young male audience's thirst for violence, not because it had an interesting plot or clever dialogue. I thought it was OK. Master thespians like Crowe, Richard Harris, Joaquin Phoenix, and Oliver Reed helped paper over the plot holes. Because of the high body count of the first film, the only actors we have left for 2 are Derek Jacobi and Connie Nielsen, and, unfortunately, only one of these people can act.

Nielsen is married in the film to Pedro Pascal, who plays a General involved in a conspiracy against the evil twin Emperors. I cared not a whit. Like most of Ridley Scott's films, Gladiator 2 is lovely to look at, but ridiculous in its predictability. Scott once again draws parallels between imperial Rome and modern fascism, but to what end if one is inclined nod off at the ninety minute mark. Scott has had a long career of hits and misses. For every Alien or Thelma and Louise there is a Legend or a Robin Hood. Of all the films in his oeuvre, Gladiator 2 most reminds me of Kingdom of Heaven, a similarly empty epic with one very good supporting performance: Edward Norton as a leprous King. Denzel Washington's performance is similarly skilled, but can't mitigate the overall tedium of Gladiator 2.