Gladiator II: Are You At Least Entertained?!
Film
Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.
It's been nearly a quarter-century since audiences were swept away to Ancient Rome and experienced the power and prowess of Sir Ridley Scott's Academy-Award-winning film Gladiator. His sword-and-sandal epic immediately staked its claim at the epicenter of movie culture. Embraced by audiences and critics alike, the film quadrupled its budget and was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning five. The film put a spotlight on megastar Russell Crowe and captured him at the peak of his powers, a performance that won him Best Actor; opposite him was Joaquin Phoenix, a future Oscar-winner himself who soon went on to become one of the signature on-screen performers of his generation. It is uncontroversial to claim Gladiator as one of the most influential and revered blockbusters of its time... and probably of all time.
Flash forward to 2024. At the time of writing this, the top-grossing films of the year at the domestic box office are almost exclusively reboots, sequels, or kickstarters to soon-to-be franchises. Major film studios rely on the success of these sorts of tentpole releases now more than ever to keep the lights on. While this isn't a new trend, it is a very different commercial landscape than it was at the turn of the century when Gladiator was released — for better and for worse. Two years ago, the success of Top Gun: Maverick laid the groundwork for the groundswell of movie-going enthusiasm for "Barbenheimer", a two-hander cinematic event that paired the releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same day in July. Together the two films helped bring out audiences for one another all summer; both films garnered legitimate critical acclaim and accolades and created a real moment where it felt like movies were back at the center of culture. But was that just fool's gold or some kind of one-hit wonder? The existential question facing studio heads and film distributors in the wake of Barbenheimer is whether that phenomenon was more of a blip than it was something replicable.
This fall, another dual-release twofer was pitched to audiences to try to recreate and capture the lightning in the bottle that was the Barbenheimer experience last summer. Enter "Glicked," a double billing that is one part Wicked and one part Gladiator II. While the former has done very well commercially and critically and has generated a great deal of Oscar buzz, the overall reception to the legacy sequel of one of the foremost films of the 21st century has been... tepid. At the ripe but still fruitful age of 87, Scott is back in Rome with some unfinished business. While the shadow cast by Gladiator looms large, I for one went into Gladiator II with mild and managed expectations, which is perhaps why I am warmer towards it than others. Many people have lamented that a sequel to Gladiator is "unnecessary" or could "diminish the original film" in some way. To that I say, most sequels and spinoffs run that risk, right? I tried to keep my powder dry and went into my pre-Thanksgiving screening with cautious optimism. Meeting and exceeding the impossible standards set by this film's predecessor is wholly unreasonable, and I found Gladiator II to be most enjoyable when it is content leaning into the exercise rather than worrying about its legacy.
It is worth noting that what happens in Gladiator II feels eerily familiar to what happened in Gladiator by design — at least initially. In the sixteen following the events of the first film, a lot has happened and yet, everything is kind of the same. Rome is still ruled by the corrupt and enslaved gladiators are still fighting their way to freedom. Hanno, aka Luciuerus Aurelius (Paul Mescal) is the de facto hero this time around, and he is of course the grandson of the former emperor Marcus Aurelius and son of Maximus Decimus Meridius... and rightful heir to the Roman Empire. Gladiator II tells Lucius' story, from his enslavement to his rise through the gladiatorial ranks. Like an unknown minor league pitching prospect with an electric arm, Lucius is discovered by Macrinus (Denzel Washington), a former slave turned cutthroat gladiator manager who is well-connected in the Rome's political arena. Macrinus promises Lucius that the opportunity for revenge against the Romans and specifically their general and public hero, Acacius (Pedro Pascal), who killed his wife in the film's opening battle in the North African kingdom of Numidia. To make things almost needlessly complicated, Acacius is now married to Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), who happens to be Lucius's mother, Maximus's former lover, and Aurelius's daughter.
On the surface, these narrative coincidences seem annoyingly regurgitated, like how Star Wars: The Force Awakens felt more like a blatant ripoff of A New Hope than something that pushes the larger story forward. However, in this case, I think if you can avoid overthinking things and see the story in large brush strokes, the film's thematic wobbliness actually works in its favor — that is if you believe Ridley is in on the joke. Like much of Scott's late-period work, Gladiator II is more camp than kitsch. Consider Alien: Covenant, House of Gucci, and Napoleon, all films that are exaggerated by design and aware of their own absurdities. Gladiator II may just be the continuation of this particular brand of filmmaking for Scott, and the film's self-indulgence is in good fun and not the result of some lacking self-awareness. The circumstances and events that take place in the film are deliciously Shakespearean, but the story still carves out plenty of time to satisfy the kind of high-stakes action audiences responded to in the original film. I'm not going to sit here and analyze every storytelling choice along the way, but I think it's safe to say that Gladiator II was conceived to entertain its audience first and foremost, perhaps exclusively.
Having directed 60 films over the course of almost 50 years in Hollywood, Scott is one of the greats to ever sit in the director's chair; and yet, he has often been overlooked, taken for granted by many, and has still never won the Academy Award for Best Director. Despite some of his creative pits and peaks, I'm just excited I had the chance to catch another one of his massively ambitious projects on the big screen (especially this one, as its clear he wanted to come back to this world). And let me just say, the craft and direction, as well as the performances in this film, are still top-notch. Lucky for his fans, Scott's last decade has been especially prolific, and his breakneck pace shows that he's still passionate about his trade and eager to get as many projects out of his mind and into the world as possible. So even though Gladiator II feels a bit reductive and will likely fade into misguided sequel obscurity, I found that it provided an answer to the question Maximus posed to patrons at the Colosseum some twenty-odd years ago with an unabashed confidence: yes Ridley, I am indeed entertained.
Froth
How much time do you really need to stop in for a quick beer taster at a taproom? 5 minutes? 15 minutes? 2 minutes? I guess the answer to that question depends on the person. For me, I learned that 3.5 minutes is just enough time to order, closeout, and enjoy a quick beer hit in a pinch. Before heading to my screening of Gladiator II, I made a pit stop at the Life on Marz Community Club a nano, brewery, taproom, and coffee shop right outside Chicago's Logan Square. In those 3.5 minutes, I ordered and downed a small pour of Jungle Boogie, an extremely well-regarded American pale wheat beer that is one of Marz's signatures. What stood out most was the depth of flavor, something that doesn't seem to always coincide with a pale wheat. Jungle Boogie has a caramelly sweetness with that is subtly hoppy while still being fruit-forward. The key ingredient here is the Rooibos tea, which I would imagine might be a make-or-break for some drinkers. I have to admit that while I was a little skeptical about the description, I was a big fan of Jungle Boogie. Not only did it help prime for Gladiator II and its 2.5-hour runtime, but I could easily drink and enjoy it in 3.5 minutes with ease. Next time, I need to put aside more time at the Life on Marz Community Club to give their beer selection a full taste test.
