A grand Colosseum spectacle that falls flat

By Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter

MOVIE REVIEWGladiator IIDirected by Ridley ScottMTRCB Rating: R-16

RIDLEY SCOTT’S Gladiator II is a grand, entertaining spectacle. The opening credits scene is a thing of beauty, the animated sketches and score serving as a breathtaking introduction to the Roman Empire as depicted in the film. The rest of it delivers as a blockbuster — it’s the type of experience that works best when the elaborate costumes and set pieces placed in well-staged gigantic battles and sweeping scenes of the Colosseum are projected 10 to 30 feet high in a large movie theater.

An epic historical action film set 16 years after the events in the original Gladiator (2000), it follows Marcus Aurelius’s grandson Lucius, who is living under an alias as a warrior in Africa until the Roman army invades and enslaves him. He then pursues the path of a gladiator, inspired by the legendary gladiator Maximus, protagonist of the first Gladiator movie. Unfortunately, despite awesome visuals befitting a big-screen popcorn movie, the film sways in-consistently between criticizing and glorifying the Roman Empire, thanks to the poor writing of the lead character.

A valiant effort was made by indie darling Paul Mescal (Normal People, Aftersun, All of Us Strangers) to bring Lucius to life. As a newcomer to blockbusters, Mescal was given no favors by the messy script and pacing that ren-dered his character unrelatable. The film keeps insisting that he is a man driven by unbridled rage, but Mescal’s effective chemistry with his fellow gladiators and with his doctor friend Ravi show otherwise, that he is instead a man with a good heart.

If only we were outright shown these softer moments, similar to how the first Gladiator gave Russell Crowe’s Maximus plenty scenes as a family man and everyday man of honor. Instead, this movie’s protagonist is given unreal-istic character development, as he goes from vowing to kill General Acacius (played by Pedro Pascal) who enslaved him and despising all of Rome, to suddenly reversing his hate and deciding to take up his mantle as its prince. Per-haps in a more polished version of Ridley Scott’s messy sequel, with scenes delving into Lucius’ gradual evolution, this problem might be solved.

Undoubtedly, the stand-out performance in the film is given by Denzel Washington as the conniving Macrinus, who keeps a stable of gladiators. He is an ex-slave who was playing the long game in pursuit of a free Rome, but emerges as a corrupted manipulator now in pursuit of power. Washington plays this character compellingly, as a morally gray character finally ascending to the level of his oppressors. When Mescal’s Lucius puts a stop to it, the ending resorting to the generic “hero saves the day” trope, the promise of a complex, nuanced game of politics ends, and the film falls flat.

Gladiator II falls apart — its plot holes, historical inaccuracies, and character inconsistencies glaringly distracting — if you think about it too much. For sure, Roman history nerds will leave the theater with a migraine after seeing all the terrible anachronisms, from a printed newspaper (invented 1,200 years too early!) to the brother emperors Geta and Caracalla (not twins in real life, and more ruthless rather than insane as depicted here). For movie fans, comparing this sequel to the original shows it full of faults, too, because this echoes Gladiator way too closely to be its own triumph.

Even the evil twin emperors Geta and Caracalla (played with surprising pathos by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger) are an echo of the cruelty of Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus in the first film, albeit more unhinged. But while the lone monarch was clearly motivated by a lack of love and recognition, a frustration he redirected towards gladiators in the arena, the twins’ supposed insanity is a more symbolic one, representing the chaos of Rome as the two wreak havoc on their subjects and eventually tear each other apart, the audience left to speculate on their motivations given their limited screentime.

Of course, their underdeveloped subplot is but one part of the film, with Denzel Washington’s Macrinus doing much of the heavy lifting as the main antagonist. If not for anything else, this film is worth watching for his memora-ble Shakespearean performance alone, proving Washington’s sheer star power. It reaches the point where, as other scenes unfold, one wonders where Macrinus is and hopes to see him onscreen once more.

Pedro Pascal as Acacius and Paul Mescal as Lucius play action heroes well enough, even serving as eye candy for those who want to see men all roughed up in battle, but their characters are simply not as compelling as Macrinus.

The CGI baboons and the naval battle recreated in the flooded Colosseum (filled with sharks, somehow) are a symptom of the movie industry’s illness of neglecting original ideas just to fill the screen with spectacle and rehash what’s been successful before. Its ending is the most damning piece of evidence — playing Hans Zimmer’s iconic theme, “Now We Are Free,” over footage of Maximus brushing his hand through stalks of grain. While it may symbol-ize Lucius following in the grand gladiator’s footsteps to fulfil his legacy, it comes off as forced. It only makes one want to watch the original film again.

Gladiator II did not need to be a disorganized nostalgia fest that only retreads its predecessor, overdressed with visual stimuli to keep audiences entertained. Perhaps audiences will be entertained regardless (admittedly this writer was, despite my criticism), but it is still a waste of the potential for a decent story.

Gladiator II opens in Philippine cinemas on Dec. 4.