FILM/ REVIEW
GLADIATOR II
Rated PG013
148 Minutes
Released November 22nd
Gladiator II is a beautifully made classic epic. Legendary director Ridley Scott did not attempt to reinvent the wheel here. He did not do something completely unexpected or change up the style. He knows instinctively how to tell a great story based on myth and history against a breathtaking backdrop and historically believable environment. The ensemble he chose and directed does a monumental job of bringing their characters to life. The casting is outside-the-box, yet every role meshes smoothly with the whole and each character has their own voice. Together they make this 2 ½ hour movie go by like a 90-minute rom-com. This film is not just endless fight scenes, it’s a mythical story on the level of the Iliad or Odysseus.
It is a continuation of Scott’s first Gladiator, which won Oscars for Best Picture and four other categories in 2000. In this sequel, you meet the new characters on their own in the beginning.
Returning from the original Gladiator is cinematographer John Mathieson. costume designers Janty Yates and David Grossman, and production designer Arthur Max, who all seek perfection in recreating ancient Rome down to the last detail and create a reality grand enough to contain this mythic tale. Mathieson’s work is fluid, and his transitions are so smooth, that you feel like his camera is a human eye, whether you are looking at an expansive landscape, a packed Coliseum, a battle scene, or the jewels on a character’s robe. The fight and battle scenes are not chaotic but meticulously choreographed.
Scott, who is now 86, likes to consider himself the “orchestra conductor” of this massive project, with his great attention to detail and fluid grasp of storytelling. He has had this follow-up film in his head for 25 years. Some of the scenes that you might think are unrealistic have historical authenticity. For example, the ancient emperors really did sometimes fill the Colosseum with water to stage sea battles. Many exotic animals were brought on stage, as most of the audience had never seen them before. Scott has created highly realistic animals with 3D printing. The shoot was grueling, starting in May 2023 in Morocco and Malta, and according to the actors, the desert heat was oppressive. In Malta, Scott built a Colosseum replica that was a quarter mile long.
The story centers on “Lucius,” played by Paul Mescal. Mescal is an extraordinary actor. Here he plays a character at the opposite end of the personality spectrum from his character in the TV Miniseries Normal People, who was a sensitive, quiet love interest. Although he seemed like an unlikely choice for Gladiator II, Scott watched the Hulu series and realized that Mescal would be the hero of his film. Two of the producers had seen him as “Stanley Kowalski” in Streetcar Named Desire in London and were convinced. Mescal was hesitant to sign on for a tentpole lead for career reasons but realized that the role was “in the hands of Ridley and rooted in the human condition with a very clear emotional language,” so he signed on.
Denzel Washington also plays a character widely divergent from most of his heroic roles. His realization of “Macrinus” is over-the-top but believable for the character’s personality – a misguided, power-hungry budding dictator, close in nature to many of those autocrats in recent and current history. Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger are deliciously twisted as the twin emperors. Scott notes that testing has shown that high society Romans probably had extreme amounts of lead in their drinking water, leading to disability, depression, moodiness, and lack of concentration, so these emperors’ personalities also represent historic realism.
The combination of the ensemble, the editing, the music, and the cinematography make this story come to life as if you’re in the story yourself. Fred Hechinger, who plays “Emperor Caracalla, says that the world Scott created for this film is “very inspiring and full on. It’s unlike any other set, and he has so many cameras that the action happens continuously…the scene is full spectacle.” The story is based loosely on historical figures and events, and takes on a life of its own, as it serves as an allegory for our present times.
Kathryn Whitney Boole has spent most of her life in the entertainment industry, which has been the backdrop for remarkable adventures with extraordinary people. She is a Talent Manager with Studio Talent Group in Santa Monica. kboole@gmail.com
