Where we are, Death is not… but Denzel is.

Sixteen years after Commodus lost everything to a vengeful gladiator in the Colosseum, Rome is in trouble once again. Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) have pushed the empire to the brink with their whims, unsatisfied by the further conquests General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) makes in their name… and the general tires of its toll upon the citizenry. With the counsel of his wife Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), Marcus plots what he believes is best for Rome, enlisting hesitant senators to back a coup with the promise of meaningful power. In the aftermath of the general’s most recent conquest, a warrior named Lucious (Paul Mescal) saw his beloved (Yuval Gonen) struck down prior to his capture. After Lucious is enslaved to fight for Macrinus (Denzel Washington) and incentivized with an opportunity to take revenge on General Marcus, lines are drawn to usurp control of the empire itself as history (and this sequel) eerily begins to repeat itself.

Director Ridley Scott returns to his sword and sandal days with a sequel to the award-winning 2000 film Gladiator. The original production boasted actors like Richard Harris and Oliver Reed, with a 35-year old Russell Crowe crying out “Are you not entertained?!” in his quest for revenge. While Maximus eventually succeeded before moving on, nothing else it seems was solved that day and Rome just kept getting worse, saddled with two despicable co-emperors instead of one. The trailers hint of bigger spectacles rumored to have taken place in the Colosseum, such as flooding the grounds to stage historic sea battles and pitting fighters against all manner of exoctic beasts; no time for mere horse-drawn chariots this time around. It’s bigger, badder, and more violent than before, but other than the need to make more money, there’s still the question of why a sequel no one asked for was greenlit over twenty years later. Got your bread and circuses ready, Juvenal?

Setting up similar dynamics to the original, Gladiator II capitalizes on what moviegoers enjoyed about the original film while minimizing the drama, and this works for the most part; after all, viewers are the Colosseum’s audience waiting for blood. Twelve years passed for Maximus to rise up from a slave in Spain to a celebrated gladiator within striking distance of his foe in a believable way. The timeline is surprisingly more compressed in the sequel, from the capture of Lucious to his purchase mere weeks later followed by a ten-day countdown to the ending, barely time to realistically heal from a simple injury. What sets the sequel apart is the introduction of Denzel Washington as Macrinus: instantly charming and disarming with ambition to spare, an entertaining villain who celebrates treachery. He’s MacBeth without remorse or regret, in it to win at any cost, entirely and happily hands-on… and having the best time ever. If you’re asking whether I’m referring to Macrinus or Denzel, the answer is yes.

Yes, Pedro Pascal does his serious general thing but his character looks exhausted and not particularly compelling. Paul Mescal beefed up for his role but was in no way given as dramatic an arc as what Crowe’s Maximus had, so it feels subdued in comparison every time we’re reminded of it. Even Joseph Quinn at his manic best playing Emperor Geta is fairly one-dimensional with his arc. The edit spends as little time as it can on the whys and gets to the next combat sequence as fast as possible, whether it’s an ocean invasion, baboons attacking lowly prisoners, or gladiators facing off with a rhinoceros. Spectacle is the point, and it looks like all the money spent is up on the screen. Following The Martian, Ridley Scott’s films have had lukewarm receptions of late — Napoleon, House of Gucci, and The Last Duel — but additional installments no one asked for to his previously successful movies (see also Prometheus and Alien: Covenant) have a way of finding an audience. In contrast, Gladiator II follows a different mantra: less serious, more entertaining.

Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla seems to exist to link Gladiator to its successor, working well enough despite being highly questionable. Far more compelling is Denzel doing his Macrinus thing between battle sequences, giving viewers a cunning villain as a true threat. If you’ve been itching for more camaraderie in the Colosseum, Mr. Scott is ready to punch your ticket; if not, you can always see what the witches are up to over at Wicked.

Gladiator II is rated R for strong bloody violence, leather-clad sweaty shirtless men, and Denzel’s devilish smile.

Three skull recommendation out of four