The reviews are in for Gladiator II ahead of its nationwide release next week, and the critics are, for the most part, not giving it the thumbs down, writing resoundingly solid reviews for the action epic that comes to theaters decades after the 2000 Ridley Scott-directed best picture Oscar winner. The sequel has a 77 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 67 average on Metacritic or “generally favorable” reviews.
Gladiator II is set years after the events of the blockbuster hit Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. In the sequel, Lucius Verus, portrayed by Paul Mescal, the son of Crowe’s Maximus, is forced to fight in the Colosseum after his home is conquered by Rome’s tyrannical emperors. Pedro Pascal’s General Marcus Acacius lays siege to Lucius’ home of Numidia and he must draw on his past to find the strength and honor to restore Rome to its former glory. Denzel Washington steps into a rare villainous role as Macrinus, a former slave turned master of gladiators.
The sequel continues director Scott’s breakneck pace of large-scale Hollywood epic feature films, reviving and revisiting film franchises he originated over his lengthy career, as he did directing Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Scott was nominated for a best director Oscar for the original Gladiator, and it seems he brings the epic scope of that blockbuster back to tell the tale in the sequel.
The Hollywood Reporter‘s own David Rooney told readers that the film is a bit of a rehash that works, writing that “in terms of brutal spectacle, elaborate period reconstruction and vigorous set pieces requiring complex choreography, the sequel delivers what fans of its Oscar-winning 2000 predecessor will crave — battles, swordplay, bloodshed, Ancient Roman intrigue. That said, there’s a déjà vu quality to much of the new film, a slavishness that goes beyond the caged men forced to fight for their survival and seeps into the very bones of a drama overly beholden to the original.”
The BBC’s Caryn James writes that “Mescal, a counterintuitive choice given his sensitive roles in Normal People and Aftersun, is the mesmerizing center of the film, holding it together with the same power and magnetism Russell Crowe brought to the original. The sequel has a less perfect balance between emotion and action than the first, with beheadings and swordfights almost overwhelming the characters, but it comes close enough.”
Nick Schager, critic at The Daily Beast, seems a bit less enamored, writing that the sequel is “an elaborate imitation of its predecessor. If little more than a cover song, however, it’s a majestic and malicious one that reaffirms its maker’s unparalleled gift for grandiosity.”
Finding himself to be a fan of this blockbuster epic after all, The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw expressed the same thought as Schager when he wrote that even though Scott’s return to the Roman arena is something of a repeat, it’s “still a thrilling spectacle and Mescal a formidable lead. We are entertained.”
Empire magazine’s Boyd Hilton wrote that “what could have been a ponderous, predictable sequel to a much-loved Oscar-winner instead turns out to be a fun romp. However Gladiator II fares this awards season, it’s a hell of a ride.”
Not everyone liked Scott’s return to Rome, though. Alison Willmore of New York magazine wrote, “The thrill of the action sequences just underscores the hollowness of the rest of the enterprise. Sure, not all of us spend a lot of time thinking about the Roman Empire, but those who do deserve better than this.”
And The Film Verdict’s Alonso Duralde writes, “Unfortunately, Scott has chosen not to fill every one of the 148 minutes with quotable moments or with a strapping Paul Mescal taking on soldiers, sharks or mad monkeys, and when Gladiator II is being neither wild nor crazy, it’s all a little dull.”
Gladiator II is set to hit theaters on Nov. 22.