Calista Kiloh
Ridley Scott takes audiences back to Ancient Rome with the highly anticipated sequel to his 2000 hit Gladiator. Set around 20 years after the events of the first film, Gladiator II is a sensory feat meant to be seen in theatres. The beating realness of David Scarpa’s script is the colosseum’s chalked floor, the scraping of metal on metal, and blood pooling in water.
Paul Mescal falls naturally into the lead role of Hanno/Lucius, a prisoner of war spurred on by the recurring memory of his short-lived wife. This is the first we’ve seen of Mescal in a movie of this scale – with the actor being best known for his quieter work in Normal People and Aftersun – yet he does well to keep up with the action alongside powerhouse Denzel Washington as dynamic antagonist Macrinus. Mescal’s pivotal scene is the climactic fight between him and General Acacius (Pedro Pascal) instigating a slightly deus ex machina light bulb moment for Lucius. He is conveniently quick to accept his ancestry as the son of Maximus (Russel Crowe in the original movie) and embrace rather than disdain his blue blood, suddenly ready to lead the Rome he previously detests. I take more issue with this unrealistic wavering of character than Mescal’s actual performance, and for a hero who recites Virgil, it’s surprising he can’t think of anything less clunky to say in his rousing speeches other than ‘Where we are… Death is not.’
Gladiator II is more an inadvertent comedy than anything
Following up last year’s Napoleon, once again Scott plays fast and loose with historical accuracy, preferring to bend more towards the ridiculousness of a plot where CGI sharks fight in the Colosseum and a pet monkey is appointed second in command over the Roman Empire. With the potential to be received as tonally confused, Gladiator II is more an inadvertent comedy than anything. Caked in foundation, Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger play absurdly camp tyrannical twin emperors and Matt Lucas’ appearance as ‘Master of Ceremonies’ is also greatly appreciated. The use of humour in a high-scale action film, although here wholly unexpected, is inoffensive to audiences today who are likely already accustomed with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s ‘he’s behind me isn’t he’ comedy. This balances well with, rather than undercuts, the emotional punchline of the movie. The film works best through the lens of Shakesperean tragedy. Plots to overthrow the empire are overheard by maids behind curtains, and mad villain turns against mad villain who turns against mad villain. Gladiator II is an unashamed melodrama at its finest.
Ultimately, Gladiator II represents a repeated history, a cycle of claims to power, the toppling of tyrants and the birth of tyranny.
In its already 2 hour and 28-minute runtime, I can’t help but wonder what was meant for Moon Knight star and Egyptian-Palestinian actress May Calamawy. Her presence in the film was controversially cut entirely – aside from brief dialogue-less background appearances – despite previously being alluded to as an integral character who acts alongside Marcrinus.
In an age of film where audiences argue the concentration of sequels and remakes outweigh original scripts (personally, I believe this is an exaggeration) it’s hard to cipher the intention of this movie. It seems Scott has chosen to simply double down on the ideas presented in the first film rather than build upon them. Lucius, our hero, repeatedly calls out the sensationalisation of violence, he says to his fellow gladiator: ‘Brother. Let’s not kill each other for their amusement’ but how can we sympathise properly with this sentiment when the film containing it is the epitome of sensationalised violence for spectacle? Ultimately, Gladiator II represents a repeated history, a cycle of claims to power, the toppling of tyrants and the birth of tyranny.
Calista Kiloh
Featured image courtesy of Alex Watkin. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
In-article images courtesy of @gladiatormovie via Instagram.com. No changes were made to this image.
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