Gladiator 2

 

Sixteen years after the deaths of both the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and General Maximus Decimus Meridius, Rome is once again under the tyrannical rule of twin emperors Geta and Caracalla. As the twins set their sights on expanding their empire in a seemingly never-ending war, the Roman army arrives on the shores of the Northern African kingdom Numidia in order to conquer it. As the battle rages on, the refugee Hanno is taken captive into slavery along with his fellow Numidian soldiers. Hanno and his men are then taken to Ostia, where they are tested and trained to become gladiators. Hanno especially catches the attention of Macrinus, who promises Hanno the opportunity for revenge against the general who led the attack on Hanno's home and murder of his wife if he can withstand the rigorous battles of the arena.

I had so many mixed feelings going into the theater to watch Gladiator II. The first one is very high on my list of top 20 favorite movies of all time, and considering how perfect the original was, I was highly skeptical any sequel could live up to the epicness.  The end result wasn't bad. It was really done quite well actually. I absolutely loved Denzel Washington and Paul Mescal in their respective roles, both of them knocked it out of the park (or should I say arena...sorry). This was also a great example of using specific callbacks that didn't feel forced or out of place.

The two guys who played the twin emperors were ok, but I kind of wish they had been more diabolical and less clownish. It almost felt like they saw Joaquin Phoenix's role as Commodus and decided to imitate him but ham it up tenfold. It wasn't bad, just not the direction I would've probably gone with. Same goes with the story itself. If it had been up to me, I would've probably written the story to follow Djimon Hounsou's character Juba from the original Gladiator as he navigates the gladiatorial arena and trying to win his own freedom. Interestingly enough, there were at least three different instances where some dialogue was used that seemed to my mind to allude to Denzel's character Macrinus possibly actually being Juba, but I don't know if that was just me wishing that were the case, or if that was the original intent. I wish at the very least Juba made an appearance, even if it had been a brief one.

Overall, after waiting almost 25 years for the release of a sequel, the end result was well worth it even with a few minor hiccups along the way. Part of me still wants that sequel following Juba, but it might be a little too late now. Oh well, one can dream.