Gladiator II is a mess

To talk about Gladiator 2, we have to talk about Gladiator.

Released in 1999, Gladiator remains one of Ridley Scott's masterpieces. A grand sword and sandal spectacle that recently saw a re-release for its 25th anniversary. On the big screen, it still packs a tremendous punch. From the triumphant score by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard to the sumptuous visuals and nuanced performances, it remains a pinnacle of 90s filmmaking.

By comparison, any film would struggle. Even a great one. Except Gladiator 2 isn't a great film, let alone a good one. It's a lazy, meandering mess that feels like an obligation. As if someone remembered that we've reached a quarter-century without cashing in on something beloved.

It's easier to say what works, because there isn't a lot that does. Denzel Washington is great as the conniving slave trader turned politician Macrinus. He brings an impish energy to an underwritten part, and uses his great skills as a Shakespearean actor to a brilliant degree. Whenever he's not on-screen, the picture is lifeless and inert.

Which is a problem, because much of the film rests on the bulked up shoulders of Paul Mescal, who just isn't up to the task. He is tremendous in All of Us Strangers and Aftersun, yet he never musters any of that believability into his part as the vengeance-driven soldier turned gladiator. When he delivers speeches and pretends to lead men, which he often does, it all falls to deaf ears. He's a great actor in the wrong part.

Pedro Pascal is better as the war-weary general who would rather wash his hands of the psychotic emperors, even if he's basically typecast at this point. He brings an easy charm to the part, but his character is effectively an afterthought who comes and goes as plot herring.

Said plot is a convoluted mess of betrayal, politics, and exposition. None of it is interesting, and very little works if you think about it. The original Gladiator was a lean best by comparison, easily understood by all involved. Its sequel follows the same beats as the first one, yet over-explains itself at every turn. Characters refer to each other with their full titles and familial relations. As if the film is uncertain we can't remember who just walked in.

Mescal plays Hanno (though his true identity is barely a secret), a soldier who loses his wife to Pascal's campaign for Rome. Captured and forced into slavery, Hanno follows in Maximus's footsteps to the Colosseum, where he pursues vengeance for his wife. But Rome is a powder keg ready to blow, and all it takes is the machinations of the suave Macrinus to set the stage for a greater revolution.

Gladiator 2 is a legacy sequel that refuses to let go of the original and do something new with itself. Maximus hangs over every frame, and every minor character speaks of him as if he was a personal friend. Everyone is connected somehow, which makes this vast empire feel small as a city block.

It's a film that asks us to remember how great the original film was, which in turn makes the sequel lesser by comparison. It doesn't stand on its own, and it doesn't reveal us anything new about our relationship to the 1999 film.

Gladiator 2 was never going to be the Nick Cave -penned sequel, where Maximus returns from the afterlife to become the Christ-killer, which the songwriter turned in as a half-joke in the mid-2000s. But that film at least would have been interesting. Not this draggy, lifeless mess that is full of empty spectacle.

From the AI-infested visuals to the drab effects work and sloppy editing, Gladiator 2 feels rushed in every respect. It's more expensive and has bigger set pieces, yet none of them feel like anything. They come and go without any lasting impact because the one-note characters don't matter in the slightest. To counter this, Gladiator 2 repeats famous lines from the first film multiple times, as if to say: But look at the legacy we've built on!

But a legacy means nothing if you squander its potential, and that's precisely what Gladiator 2 does. It's a bloated mess of a sequel to a film that deserves better.