Pascal, Mescal and Denzel….oh my! At 86, the Master, Ridley Scott is back with a another brutal, colossal Coliseum showdown. This time the gladiators have to contend with vicious primates, a huge vicious rhino and even a full-scale naval battle in the arena with sharks!
It’s taken 24 years to mount this elaborate spectacle following Russell Crowe’s Academy Award win for Best Actor with Scott’s win for Best Picture. Now, a generation later, a new cast continues the saga in a bloody massive production written by David Scarpa with story by Peter Craig based on characters created by David Franzoni, who won an Oscar for writing the original screenplay.
This is one epic story of power, intrigue and revenge that leans heavily on the first film, down to using short clips of Crowe. Lucius, (Paul Mescal, All of Us Strangers, After Sun) picks up the slack as a Russell Crowe clone. He’s the son of the great gladiator whose mother, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) sent him away for safety when his father, Maximus, was killed.
Now grown, Lucius is a farmer in North Africa whose province was conquered by Roman General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal). The film opens on the battle in which the wife of Lucius is killed. Lucius loses, being taken into slavery and brought to Rome where he meets Macrinus (Denzel Washington). Washington is a player and a master manipulator excited to use Lucius to gain power if he makes him a fan-favorite gladiator.
Mescal is a smoldering, hunk of a presence who plays a man there to avenge his wife’s death by killing Pascal’s character. He’s the General, by the way, the devoted love of Lucius’ mother. In essence the man who killed his wife, is his step-father. Connie Nielsen, reprising her Lucilla role, decades later, is still beautiful with gorgeous costuming, but we didn’t find much depth in her frightened demeanor. She doesn’t show much emotion for herself, her son and Acacius, her lover, just fear.
Mescal has to play his character close to his shield to hide his real feelings. We found him a little stoic for his situation, even though he must prove he can survive whatever beasts he must face, perhaps to bring glory back to Rome. Pascal fits the bill well as a conflicted warrior who hates what he has to do for looney tune emperor brothers. They are Emperor Geta (Joseph Quinn) and the totally unwound, Emperor Caracalla (Fred Hechinger, who played a much more likable character in Thelma). These two bloodthirsty rulers are just looking for gratification by shocking the crowd craving for the most vicious and grisly entertainment.
As Macrinus, Denzel Washington seems rather cartoonish, over-the-top, mugging and relishing his role whilst encouraging the young emperors’ nuttiest behavior. He knows everyone’s secrets and is bloodthirsty himself, playing the courtesans against each other to get the best for himself.
Scott is a realist when it comes to directing. Pascal noted that the fight scenes were shot with real actors or stunt types playing out most of the action. Pascal said he never experienced shooting scenes like that before. Instead of playing to a tennis ball or a piece of tape, Scott created complete complete environments, even though Pascal might be the only one being shot on camera. For example, The director used a monstrous actual animatronic rhino for the actors to play off of for the brutal scenes in the Coliseum. Scott brought Director of Photography, John Mathieson back for this sequel and gave him plenty to work with and capture.
Even though this film has all the bells and whistles, it doesn’t feel particularly fresh or original. This just keeps following the plot points of his first Gladiator. With these outlandish characters and frivolous detours mixed with such stoic characters, it’s uneven. But Ridley Scott, Maestro of Action, is still in the fight, and he’s done it again.
Paramount Pictures 2 hour 28 minutes R
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