The much-awaited Gladiator sequel shows its connection to the first film right away - Paul Mescal as Lucius “Hanno“ Verus finds Maximus shrine with his old armor and famous words. Its like watching history repeat itself as Hanno becomes a gladiator seeking payback just like the original hero did
The movieʼs timeline is all mixed-up: it cant decide if its happening in year 200‚ 208 or 211 (which makes zero sense for the story). The film-makers got basic facts wrong too; they show Romans attacking Numidia which was already part of their empire for about 250 years. Even simple things like coins and royal titles dont match historical facts
The visual side of things is quite impressive with big fight scenes but theres lots of weird stuff:
- Soldiers wearing armor from different centuries
- White marble buildings instead of colorful ones
- Bows that work like modern guns
- Swords going through metal armor like its made of paper
Denzel Washington plays Macrinus and teams up with Pedro Pascalʼs General Acacius in a story that tries to show Romeʼs problems. The movies bad guys - emperors Geta and Caracalla (Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger) - are shown as weak rulers; which is funny because real Caracalla was actually a tough military leader
The film cares more about being part of the franchise than telling real history. Its got nice action scenes but misses what made the first Gladiator special - instead of focusing on fighting against unfair power it makes up its own version of Romeʼs past