Gladiator 2
While it doesn’t come out for almost two weeks, Gladiator 2 reviews are pouring in from dozens of critics and somehow, against all odds, the sequel is getting higher review scores than the first.
I was frankly sort of shocked that Best Picture winner Gladiator has just a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes from 250+ critics, as that seems weirdly low for a movie that good. Well, as such, Gladiator 2 actually has better scores so far, an 84% with 45+ reviews in.
The film’s largely positive reviews often praise stars Paul Mescal but above all others, Denzel Washington, who is no doubt sailing to a Best Supporting Actor nomination, and maybe another Oscar win.
In terms of Ridley Scott, who will never stop cranking out movies despite being 86 years old now, we can see how Gladiator 2 compares to his other recent filmography:
- Gladiator 2 (2024) – 84%
- Napoleon (2023) – 58%
- House of Gucci (2021) – 62%
- The Last Duel (2021) – 85%
- All the Money in the World (2017) – 79%
- Alien: Covenant (2017) – 65%
- The Martian (2015) – 91%
- Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) – 30%
- The Counselor (2013) – 33%
- Prometheus (2012 – 73%
Gladiator 2
That takes us all the way back to 2012, and I’m not sure we need to keep going past that if we’re talking “recent.” Here, you can see that Gladiator 2 is his highest scoring film in the last 12 years or so outside of The Last Duel and The Martian, which is pretty good company to keep. 2013-2014 was not his year, I guess. Here’s what some of the reviews are saying about Gladiator 2:
- Daily Telegraph – “Washington’s relaxed command of this juicy role translates into pure pleasure for the audience: every gesture radiates movie-star ease; every line comes with an unexpected flourish. Unfortunately he’s so good he rather eclipses the rest of the cast.”
- Seattle Times – “Big, bold and bordering on the unbelievable, Gladiator II delivers, big time.”
- Guardian – “This sequel is watchable and spectacular, with the Colosseum created not digitally but as a gobsmacking 1-to-1 scale physical reconstruction with real crowds. Yet this film is weirdly almost a next-gen remake.”
And one negative one for good measure:
- Times UK – “Scott’s most disappointing “legacy sequel” since Prometheus. It’s a scattershot effort with half-formed characters (with one exception) and undernourished plotlines that seem to exist only in conversation with the Russell Crowe original.”
So, all in all, very solid, and it seems like it was more of a good idea than it originally sounded like. I wonder if it too could end up in Best Picture contention like the original, and it sounds like yes, perhaps it might. We’ll find out in a few months.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.