We Are Entertained
Ridley Scott returns to the arena 25 years after ‘Gladiator’ won a boatload of Oscars. he may have bested himself in combat.
Gladiator II
Director: Ridley Scott • Writer: David Scarpa
Starring: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Denzel Washington
Hong Kong • 2hrs 28mins
Opens Hong Kong Nov 14 • III
Grade: B
If rock star Nick Cave, he of the Bad Seeds, had been victorious, the long delayed, heavily picked over sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 sword-and-sandal epic Gladiator would have been two hours of Russell Crowe’s still-dead (!) Maximus time-travelling (!!) through the afterlife (!!!) to… I guess to the Isles of the Blessed. It was just one of dozens of ideas that got tossed around in the wake of the film’s massive, US$500 million box office – and five Oscar – haul that were considered. I mean, why not? In the years after Scott struck gold, Oliver Stone, Wolfgang Petersen and Zack Snyder all tried to capture lightning in a bottle again, in Alexander, Troy and 300, with varying degrees of success. A quarter century later, Cave did not get his way so what we have is a bloody political allegory in which Maximus and the Emperor’s sister, Lucilla’s (Connie Nielsen), son Lucius grows up in the wilds of Numidia (Algeria today) as Hanno, learns to fight, learns about honour, and winds up back in Rome 16 years after his father’s death.
The innovatively titled Gladiator II picks up Maximus’s story in many ways, positioning Lucius as the next generation of great Romans willing to fight and die not for the glory of Rome but for the idea of it. Subtle, the Napoleon and All the Money in the World writer David Scarpa’s script is not. But it also means GII lets some of the action unfold away from the Colosseum to spotlight the corruption, politicking and power moves that led to the collapse of the Republic and the Empire. That’s good shit. It also makes GII reminiscent of the BBC/HBO series Rome and sexy/sleazy/violent – and utterly awesome – Spartacus for its attention to the bigger picture. Which doesn’t mean Scott abandons the swordplay. Quite the contrary: this is much stabbier and gorier than Gladiator, if less narratively coherent. But hey. Pedro Pascal in a skirt. I, personally, am eminently entertained.
Russell Crowe’s looking great
Right, so those 16 years have passed, it’s 200AD and Hanno is actually Lucius, all grown up into a strapping soldier (Paul Mescal) fighting off the Roman invasion of Numidia, led by General Acacius (Pascal). They lose – so many did – and Lucius’s wife is killed. And of course she is, because that’s what motivated dad. But Lucius sees Acacius kill his wife and swears revenge. He’s literally carted back to Rome as a spoil of war, landing in a provincial town where he’s tossed into the gladiatorial arena. It takes him all of five minutes to make an impression on shady AF, tiny bit queer gladiator dealer Macrinus (Denzel Washington in absolutely smashing form), who recognises Lucius’s seething rage and pegs it as his ticket to senatorial power. Rome is a mess: It’s ruled by despotic Crazy Emperor bro number one Geta (Joseph Quinn, A Quiet Place: Day One) and Crazy Emperor bro number two Caracalla (Fred Hechinger, Thelma). Acacius is ready to lead a coup, tired of sending young men to their deaths. The population is on the verge of open rebellion.
It’s against this backdrop that Scott and Scarpa weave a larger story about political power – as currency, who holds it, how they hold it – the machinations and responsibilities of the state and how fragile they truly are. All that extra-Colosseum action gives Scott and his VFX crew room to build out the city we barely noticed in Gladiator. This Rome is broken, and defined by poverty, misery, inequality and a stench. It gives the film a texture the original didn’t have, and helps the cast with its character work. Good thing too, because it feels as if 30 crucial minutes are sitting on a hard drive someplace. Whatever tension is built in the interplay between Lucius, Lucilla, Acacius and Macrinus evaporates in record time; the jumps in motivation are vicious enough to give the strongest necks a bad case of whiplash. We know there’s going to be a Great Man and a Great Speech to stem the rotten tide from within somewhere along the line, but there’s a clunkiness to the plotting that clangs, and often buries the film’s funnier bits. And yes there are some.
On the way to that Great Speech, though is some fabulous spectacle as only Scott can muster, helped along by astounding production and costume design by regulars Arthur Max and Janty Yates, and military work by David Crossman (Rogue One, 1917, Lincoln). The Colosseum sequences are grand, even with the film’s shoddiest CGI (oy, those baboons), and the halls of power the Roman elite traverse are lush and decadent. Lucky, because as Lucius, Mescal is unfortunately unable to hold the centre quite the way Crowe did. It’s not a matter of skill: Mescal’s a great actor and he was fantastic in Aftersun and All of Us Strangers, but Gladiator II lives or dies by its characters, and Mescal is too low-key for the job. Lucius always feels like a bored spectator, particularly when compared to the more interesting souls around him. Pascal is a master of understated emotional turmoil – this is the dude who made the faceless Mandalorian tragic and righteous without showing his damn face – and his turn as Acacius is as layered as you can get with what he’s given. He thrives in the quiet; alone with his wife, Lucilla, isolated on the battlefield, waiting to go through the Colosseum archways. The same goes for Alexander Karim as an Indian doctor, Ravi (yo, is that racist?), a former slave who stayed in Rome. His hushed conversations with Lucius about honour, integrity, and freedom are among GII’s best. And Quinn and Hechinger deserve more time as the Crazy Emperors. Both are pitched just over the top enough to mirror the Empire’s breakdown – they rival Joaquin Phoenix in his best “I’m vexed” moments. Washington, however, might just steal the show as Macrinus. The slow emergence of the trader as a major power mover is perfectly paced in a sequel that cleaves closely to the original’s narrative beats. When Washington hisses “That, my friend, is politics” – and I do mean hiss – it’s one of the year’s great scenes.
Gladiator was good (though not an Oscar winner) but was more a novelty at the time; thrilling for taking a big swing and being a sword-and-sandal epic when they were out of style. The most recent spin on one at that point being the cheeseball 1981 gem Clash of the Titans, admittedly more mythological fantasy than historical epic. Gladiator II may just have pulled a Blade Runner 2049 and bested itself. And you know Gladiator III is supposedly in the works. Why quit while you’re ahead?