Already in theaters, Gladiator ll has created a whole bunch of differing opinions on the film. Some people think the anticipated sequel can’t compare to the original and it never should have been made. While others say it is a cool, fun and entertaining film.
Gladiator ll follows a plot of Lucius, Maximus’ son not to be confused with Maximus’ other son who was killed by Commodus in the first film. However, Lucius escapes Rome and finds himself happy in a neighboring village that is conquered by Rome under the control of the twin emperors Geta and Caracalla.
The corrupt twin emperors of Rome use their brilliant General Marcus Acacius to win all their new land. Both emperors are portrayed amazingly, and both actors take on the crazy mindset needed to play these corrupt and lunatic emperors.
Also, General Marcus Acacius is played by the famous Pedro Pascal, who is quickly becoming one of the most famous actors in the world.
Both movies were produced by the great Ridley Scott, a famous movie director who has created a very successful movie franchise, Gladiator. Ridley did a great job finding actors to live up to what Joaquin Phoenix and Russel Crowe did in the first film.
In a review of the film, writer James Cone says, “The main cast in this is fantastic; there wasn’t a weak link to be found anywhere,”(Daily Aztec, Cone). Paul Mescal was the main character, and he took on the role of Lucius very well depicting the internal conflict between being loyal to his father, and angry towards his mother.
Lucius had to flee Rome when his father Maximus died, because he was next to the throne. Being that young, people would have come after him to have their shot at the throne. Mescal did a great job, but the supporting actors Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington stole the show.
Ben Sherlock from the popular movie reviewing page “Screen Rant” says, “Part of what makes the character [Macrinus]so amusing is that he finds himself so amusing. He’s constantly cracking jokes and laughing at his own jokes.”
Pascal played a great Acacius, but in his case, the role itself was the best part of his character. Kara Hedash from “Screen Rant” says, “General Acacius certainly wasn’t the villain that Lucius thought he was. In fact, the men had similar views of Rome, but Gladiator 2 didn’t give Lucius and Acacius any chance of working together.”
Acacius was eventually killed by the twin emperors after persuading and helping Lucius side with his mother Lucilla who try to become the leading voice to restore order in Rome.
After this, there was a shift in Denzel’s character who was up until this point helping Lucius become a great Gladiator like his dad. However after this,he becomes set on wanting the throne himself and eventually has both emperors killed.
This left one final intense battle scene Lucius vs Macrinus (Denzel) for power in Rome both with standing armies chose to duel it out themselves.
Lucius came into battle wearing his father’s armour, another ode to the first film. This was ultimately the reason he won with it blocking Denzel’s blows while Lucius was underwater. Water throughout the film represented the afterlife and here it was his father in the afterlife protecting him through the armour.
Ultimately, Lucius sprung back up and killed Denzel, emerging victorious and is assumed to now be emperor.
This was the opposite ending of the first film with Maximus dying, which set a lot of fans off as the film was one of few where the good guys loose.
However, it was a good movie and had its own good emotional ending with Lucius finally finding his inner Prince of Rome. This storyline led to the film pleasing a lot of fans with a fun and feel good story.
The film proved itself with the film doing well at box office grossing $369.7 million worldwide and it being widely accepted by critics and fans. For this reason, and it being a genuinely good movie, the film was a hit. It’s pretty much impossible to make a Gladiator film better than the original. While this film still didn’t live up to everything of the first film, it did a good job overall.
The best part of the film were the callbacks to the original. For example, Lucius picks up the sand and says speak to father and Lucius puts on his father’s armor. Lastly, fans really enjoyed seeing the same actor for his mother as in the original.
