“Author: Valery Myrnyi The film Gladiator 2 was released in Ukraine – the sequel to the first Oscar-winning Gladiator in 2000, which Ridley Scott wanted to film for a long time, but it just didn’t work out. The main problem was voiced by Russell Crowe: “I’m six feet underground.” How to make a sequel, when you yourself killed not just your main character, but the heart that beat in the chest of your own film? Advertisement After Nick”, — write on: ua.news
The film Gladiator 2 was released in Ukraine – the sequel to the first Oscar-winning Gladiator in 2000, which Ridley Scott wanted to film for a long time, but it just didn’t work out.
The main problem was voiced by Russell Crowe: “I’m six feet underground.” How to make a sequel, when you yourself killed not just your main character, but the heart that beat in the chest of your own film?
After Nick Cave sealed a version of the script where Russell Crowe’s hero is brought back by pagan gods to kill Jesus and put an end to Christianity, the idea of resurrecting Maximus was fortunately abandoned. There was only one thing left: to wait for someone to replace Crowe and Maximus. Someone is similar and not similar at the same time. He became 28-year-old Paul Meskal. And it seems that Ridley Scott managed to make the movie he wanted with him.
Plot
The film takes place 16 years after the end of the first Gladiator. A guy named Lucius (Paul Mescal) lives a pastoral life with his wife in the North African province of Numidia. Together with his wife, Lucius defends his home when the fleet of the Roman Empire, led by the battle-weary general Marcus, arrives there with invading intentions (Pedro Pascal).
General Marcus may be tired, but he knows his business. Numidia falls at the feet of the empire, Lucius’s wife dies, a man filled with a thirst for revenge falls into slavery.
Behind the scenes of the provincial gladiatorial arena, he meets Marquinius (Denzel Washington) is a cunning and cynical businessman with an eye for winners. With the help of Marcinius, Lucius wants to make his way to the Colosseum and perhaps meet those who need revenge somewhere there. With the help of Lucius, Marcinius wants to gain the trust of the Roman emperors of Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) and reformat the city for himself.
Somewhere between these intrigues, as in the first part, Lucilla waltzes (Connie Nielsen). She has a vague idea that Lucius might be her son.
Implementation
No modern director has more claims than Ridley Scott. On the one hand, this is understandable. The master shoots too often and periodically fails. Although to be fair, Ridley’s only real flop in the past 12 years has been the embarrassingly simple-minded Exodus: Gods and Kings. It seemed that the director had something to object to one of the key myths of Judaism, but no.
On the other hand, it seems that something impossible is always expected of him. That he would shoot with the scope of Spielberg and the depth of Scorsese. That the Ridley Scott movies were like Jurassic Park meets The Killers. But Ridley Scott films like Ridley Scott. Fast, with carefully drawn scenes, with an indifferent attitude to dialogues, but with great respect for the actors and a certain attention to the story, in which the director always sees a crooked mirror of humanity. And, of course, with the kind of scale that only Ridley Scott can construct. As James Cameron said about the films of the British: “I like the feeling that you are there, that you are present.”
This sense of presence was enough in the underrated historical drama The Last Duel, and in the extremely soap opera House of Gucci, and in the criminally underrated Napoleon. There is enough of her in the second Gladiator.
The director, who this time carefully secured the position of producer (in the first Gladiator, he missed the chance to win the Oscar for Best Picture), seems to have demonstrated here everything he is capable of in terms of this visceral scale. The walls here are high, the human crowds are numerous, the shadows fall where they are needed, the monkeys are carnivorous, the rhinos are powerful, and the sharks are swift. The presence of the Roman Empire is immediately felt.
Gladiator 2 is world-building at the highest level. The director, as if in old Hollywood peplums, put the credits at the beginning and even allowed himself to mock the apologists of the opinion that a historical action for 300 million dollars should be historically reliable (no) and, in addition to the Borgesian bestiary, he added Roman newspapers and, similar to modern surgical needles, to the frame.
Old Rome is almost the same as the new. They had the Coliseum, we have TikTok.
Accordingly, “Is anyone here not amused?”, we will not be asked in this part, because the question is rhetorical. But I wonder how things are with the plot and actors? And in general, what is the place of the new Gladiator in today’s world?
The film begins as if the first part is on rewind. A man in the middle of a battle he definitely did not want, the loss of his family, color hallucinations, an enemy for revenge, slavery, gladiatorship. But somewhere around the stage of the appearance of Denzel Washington with his Marquinius, things begin to take on somewhat different, more interesting features.
If we continue to analyze the film due to its similarity to the first part, then Washington in Gladiator 2 clearly took the role that Oliver Reed occupied in Gladiator 1 – the forced mentor of the main character, who at the right time will sacrifice himself for the same main character. However, Marquinius is not going to sacrifice himself for anyone under any circumstances. This Machiavellian character wants to sacrifice everyone else for power in Rome.
Denzel Washington recently said that he is in the last stage of his career and wants to collaborate only with the best. And Gladiator 2 does what happens when an actor of his talent collaborates with Ridley Scott: creating a cool character on equal footing. Not everyone has what it takes to play in the director’s large-scale, people-filled films, but at the same time, he is open to acting interpretations and has enough courage and confidence to calmly watch other masters of their craft do their thing.
Washington is predicted an Oscar nomination. This buzz in the press already indicates the beginning of a campaign for the attention of the Film Academy. And generally not for nothing. Marquinius is a quality thief whose every move and word is a pleasure to watch.
Behind the director’s generosity lies a calculation: there is no specific heathen in Gladiator 2. The role is split between Washington’s character and the two Roman emperors in a hilarious and cranky performance by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger. The triangle of power-eaters came out, thanks to which we dive deeper than in the first film into Rome with yo bloody parties, dark corners and chaotic buildings.
Slot heroes in the movie Gladiator 2 less crowded In fact, there is only one hero here – Lucius. He looks like an angry bear whose hibernation has been disturbed. His motivation is one and quite simple – to take revenge for the death of his wife. But the further he plunges into Roman intricacies, the more complex his vision of the world becomes. It even contains an understanding of General Marcus, a figure not just battle-weary, but tragic. Pedro Pascal’s hero is a hostage to the system that Russell Crowe’s Maximus once was. Lucius eventually turns this pain into his own.
Here it is necessary to say that in the second Gladiators completely rhymes with the first. And it’s not just intentional winks to fans. It’s a literal resemblance, but not quite. Crowe in the 2000 film had a higher purpose: not only to avenge the murderer, but also to deliver his emperor’s message to reform Rome. On the transformation of the city-state into a republic. Power belongs to the people. Rather, to senators who will be elected by the people.
Accordingly, the very figure of Maximus was messianic, religious. With a premonition of death at the end. Russell Crowe played this stoicism, this modest heroism with minimalistic methods. His presence in the film was felt without words, but simply with his body, face, and gaze. Actually, for this minimalism, which the film was based on, and which is still remembered, the actor received his Oscar.
Not so with Mezcal. His goal is trivial compared to Maximus’s and takes on more complex features in the process. There is no premonition of death here (the director decided not to repeat the mistake, but in vain). And what is important: Rome in the time of Lucius is different. In general, this whole dilogy rests on the struggle for the idea of Rome. Make Rome Great Again. And if in the first Gladiator, which was created when Fukuyama’s end of the story was still relevant (September 11, 2001 was still a year away), there was still a feeling that this was the last push, and the world would be better forever. Maximus will deliver the message, kill the usurper and people will understand the importance of liberal democracy. So, in the second Gladiator, it becomes clear that you cannot save this city just like that. Handing over power to the crowd is not an option, because the crowd already has power and does not care about democracy. The crowd needs heroes and spectacle.
It’s hard to see a message in Gladiator 2 other than “let’s at least stop killing each other” and we’ll think about that later.
And yes, it’s good for Paul Mescal that he got a chance to break out of a niche movie into a truly Hollywood movie, but his Lucius doesn’t pull on the new Maximus. Hardly because of acting skills. Mezcal is talented and, importantly, easy to like. But his character has a different task here. Less large-scale and focused. Against his background, Denzel Washington’s antihero stands out not only for his eccentricity, but also for a clearer purpose. Evil knows what it wants.
In short, the first Gladiator was released in an era when there was still faith in heroes. That’s why he hit the target. Gladiator 2 comes in an era where we place our last vestiges of hope in the likes of Donald Trump. There is no place for heroes here.
It also seems to hit the target.
Gladiator 2 — NV verdict
8/10
Not that Ridley Scott’s new film imposes any particular opinion. First of all, he entertains with a spectacle that is not made now. Here, half-naked handsome men figure out relationships, fight for power, die against the backdrop of majestic Rome.
At its heart, Gladiator 2 is a Shakespearean tale around the fact that humanity will never change, and it’s time to look for a middle ground. From the outside, we are faced with a powerful manifestation of general ideas about antiquity.
Gladiator 2
Gladiator II
2024 year
USA, Great Britain
The director is Ridley Scott
Starring: Paul Mezcal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Derek Jacobi and others.
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