Gladiator 2 is a cookie-cutter of the original and is more akin to a modern remake. It takes no effort to expand on the story or introduce something new and interesting to a franchise that didn’t need a sequel. Its entire goal is to replace the original with modern sensibilities, much like a parasite trying to take over a host because it can’t survive on its own. We’ve seen attempts like this before, examples coming from Ghostbusters, The Last of Us Part 2, and Indiana Jones: IPs that have been abducted and had their artistic souls replaced by something mediocre.
On its own, Gladiator 2 is a leech that, without its host, would’ve long withered and died amongst the sea of current, mediocre storytelling., and perhaps wouldn’t otherwise have seen the light of day.
There are a lot of issues, such as the yankee character direction of Denzel Washington, historical inaccuracies, Lucius’ flimsy motivations, and let’s not talk about the CGI demon monkeys. Instead, I’m going to focus on the core aspects of the original Gladiator and how this sequel betrays it in almost every way.
I want to first mention the wife — the initial motivation of the protagonist — because she’s an extremely bad plot point. Her death is a play on masculine values, taken straight from the original movie but missing the mark in terms of impact. The problem with the wife isn’t her sex, per se, or even the fact she’s a female that fights. It’s the fact that she’s a willing participant in the fighting, which undermines her sympathetic value in the eyes of the audience, and her value as a woman in the eyes of the culture she lives in. This is opposed to Maximus’ family, who were innocent, vulnerable bystanders that were murdered because Maximus failed to protect them. Her death is also undermined by the fact that the protagonist is barely affected by it, even though it’s painted as his main motivation. He is seen smiling and in good humour early after the event, unlike Maximus, whose demons follow him throughout the entire film. It’s like the creators had no understanding of what made Maximus’ story so captivating and meaningful. His story is a story of masculinity, and the events speak to what society and men hold dear while exploring what happens when one fails in their duties as a man. Protecting people, namely women, children, and family, is a concept that speaks to the male spirit (however frowned upon this virtue may be by certain western demographics).
Meanwhile, Gladiator 2 understands none of this, and the movie’s main merit lies in its fight scenes. It’s very postmodern to think flashy fights with little to no meaning behind them is enough to compensate for a lack of meaningful narrative. The main impact of a fight scene depends on the motivation and meaning behind why the fight is taking place. Even Michael Bay’s fight scenes in Transformers have more meaning. Lucius’ motivations are all over the place, and the character is a conceited attempt at taping together a reason for the film to exist.
Speaking of Lucius, the fact he becomes lauded by the people of Rome doesn’t make sense. He throws dirt in the air and defeats a rhino, and now he’s a hero.The creators are piggybacking off of Maximus’ status as an underdog favoured by the masses without understanding why this was, and fails to replicate the beat. They even try to up the ante of the tigers in the original, but it falls flat to the point of ridiculous when one sees the CGI monstrosities. The one saving grace of his character was for the writers to bank on his relationships with his family and the people in his life, but that was pushed aside in favour of visual glitz and glamour.
Now for the antagonists, which take the form of Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington. Their entire purpose in the movie is to simply be there for the protagonist to kill. That’s it. They add nothing of value to the narrative, not even as solid motivation for the protagonist, and any value they have beyond their deaths feels artificial when their characters are deconstructed. They are very much caricatures, and I can almost see their puppet strings as they dance around meaninglessly before the creators decide they don’t want to play with them anymore.
Why this movie exists is beyond me, and even Russell Crowe expressed confusion as to why it exists. I really have nothing positive to say, because this movie is a blight on a legacy that should’ve either been left alone, or given a proper, respectful sequel.