My Cultural Diet

Quite possibly the most unnecessary movie sequel of the last 20 years, and perhaps of all time. (And yes, I’m including Highlander 2.) Despite clocking in at nearly two-and-a-half hours, I’m hard-pressed to think of a single moment in Gladiator II that comes close to the original Gladiator or adds anything to Ridley Scott’s vision of ancient Rome. Paul Mescal gives it the old Colosseum try, but his slave-turned-gladiator simply doesn’t have the conviction or gravitas of Russell Crowe’s Maximus Decimus Meridius. Needless to say, his rousing speeches all fall flat. Denzel Washington remains one of our greatest actors, but his flamboyant performance as a former slave with a hidden agenda is wildly uneven, to say the least. And finally, Pedro Pascal is wasted in his role as an honorable yet disillusioned general. As Gladiator II grinds to its clunky conclusion, and the audience is increasingly beaten over the head with whether or not Rome is worth saving, it becomes increasingly clear that there’s nothing about Gladiator II that’s worth saving. Given all of its clumsy and desperate references and callbacks to its predecessor, save yourself some time and just watch Gladiator again.

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