EntertainmentMoviesAction MoviesGladiator 2Gladiator 2 feels like Hollywood rarity – a totally necessary sequel that completes Maximus’s storyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
EntertainmentMoviesAction MoviesGladiator 2Gladiator 2 feels like Hollywood rarity – a totally necessary sequel that completes Maximus’s storyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)
The following contains spoilers forGladiator 2.
Going into Gladiator 2, I was pretty sceptical. While the trailers had dazzled me with their awe-inspiring,Colosseum-flooding spectacle,I was privately doubting the necessity of a follow up to one of the best movies of all time. The first Gladiator movie has a definitive ending, bucketloads of emotion, and a place in the pantheon of film history. What else possibly needed to be said?
Well, as it turns out, quite a bit. Gladiator 2 picks up on similar themes and ideas to its predecessor, pulling them to a natural conclusion – and bringing Maximus’s story to the poignant close I never knew we needed at the same time.
Echoes in eternity
(Image credit: Paramount)
Lucius is presented as the last hope of Rome, and the last gasp of Marcus Aurelius’s dream – which Maximus died for. Famously, Maximus pledged to have his revenge “in this life or the next.” While Maximus killed Commodus, avenging his murdered wife and son, Gladiator 2 makes it clear that Marcus Aurelius’s dream never came to fruition after Maximus’s death. Tyrannical twin emperors rule and plan to expand their empire, forcing Acacius to slaughter entire villages as part of their conquest, while Rome itself suffers under their rule. Through Lucius, though, Marcus Aurelius’s dream is at last realized: Maximus finally completes his revenge in his next life through his own son.
Although, it’s a little more complicated than that. Gladiator 2 brings in some much-needed ambiguity via Denzel Washington’s Macrinus. Late in the movie, he reveals that he was a slave under Marcus Aurelius’s rule – in that vision of a perfect Rome, he was subjugated and suffered, so how perfect was it really? Lucius fights Macrinus regardless, because Macrinus is a tyrant in the making who engineers the death of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla and ruthlessly manoeuvres his way into power. But this twist to the tale gives Lucius’s victory – and so Maximus’s sacrifice – even more weight: Lucius fights for a dream of Rome that can surpass what even Marcus Aurelius envisioned.
When Maximus dies, he dies only with the hope that the Rome he leaves behind can be saved. At the end of Gladiator 2, Lucius, who now carries that hope on his shoulders, kneels in the very place Maximus fell and asks his father to speak to him. It’s a complete, full circle moment that feels, to me, like the ultimate ending of Maximus’s story. Until I saw that moment, I’d never realised that Maximus’s tale didn’t feel quite complete.
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And, aside from everything else, Gladiator 2 is just an excellent movie full stop. Ridley Scott brings all the spectacle and bloodshed of the original again, and the new characters are fantastic additions: Washington steals the show as his scenery-chewing, delightfully nefarious villain, while Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger bring unexpected pathos to their megalomaniac emperors. I can’t imagine the Gladiator story without them, either.
All of this means I’m unsure if we need a third film, since this once again feels like a very definitive ending (Scott told our sister publication Total Film that he’s already working on a threequel: “I’ve already got eight pages. I’ve got the beginning of a very good footprint.").
But, then again, I thought the same about Gladiator 2. So, if Scott does return for more, I’m willing to be proved wrong again.
Gladiator 2 is in UK cinemas now and US theaters on November 22.
For more, see ourGladiator 2 reviewfor our verdict, or see whether there’s aGladiator 2 post-credits sceneworth sticking around for.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4
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5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
5
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1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”
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1
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2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
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2
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3
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4
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5
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