Ridley Scott directs Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal in this historical action epic that serves as a belated sequel to the ‘Russell Crowe goes from Roman general to inspiring gladiator’ smash.

The original Gladiator was a blockbuster I always admired rather than loved, enjoyed rather than embraced. It never entered into my regular rotation after its triumphs. So personally I had no hunger for a belated sequel with no Russell or Joquain. I always have time for Ridley… world building Ridley… historical Ridley… but he has been in this mode a fair bit recently and built this exact world to scale already. At least he brings Denzel along for the rerun and Mr Washington eats with a fey, aggressive and relishable sorta fairy godmother, sorta villain turn. I spent a lot of the generous running time ticking off the differences. They all felt like devaluations. Mescal is a fine actor and a good looking spud but he doesn’t fill big Russ’ macho sandals well. There is one scene where he is led away from a battle defeated and he looks like an overpaid footballer who is disappointed by a red card decision that didn’t go his way. Better, more appropriate roles in Hollywood await him. There are way too many set pieces that rely on naff cgi animals. Bad for two reasons – the FX works is shoddy and I struggle seeing animals harmed, even distractingly fake ones. And as it follows the basic narrative of Gladiator on a rail there are few surprises… which is not what you want from 150 minutes of butt numb-er. Quibbles maybe, but enough to make me shrug on exit. I wanted hell unleashed (did they forget the best Gladiator quote!?), I got purgatory as IP holding pattern.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Gladiator (2000)