“By far the best popcorn movie of the year”

Paul Mescal is the “mesmerizing center” of Ridley Scott’s long-awaited sequel to Gladiator, which balances emotional drama and social themes with sweeping action spectacle.

How can you not Do you love a movie with swords, sandals, sharks in the flooded Roman Colosseum, Denzel Washington in flowing robes, and Paul Mescal biting a baboon? There’s much more, both serious and camp, in Ridley Scott’s exciting and entertaining sequel to “Gladiator,” which won the Best Picture Oscar nearly a quarter century ago. Full of spectacle and spectacular performances, Gladiator II is easily the best popcorn film of the year.

Mescal, a counterintuitive choice given his sensitive roles in Normal people and Aftersun is the mesmerizing center of the film, holding it together with the same power and appeal that Russell Crowe brought to the original. The sequel has a less perfect balance of emotion and action than the first, with beheadings and sword fights almost overwhelming the characters, but it comes close enough.

These comparisons are not superfluous, as Gladiator II is full of echoes of the original, in which Crowe’s Gladiator Maximus and the vile Caesar Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) fought to the death in the Colosseum. Lucius, Maximus’ son with Commodus’ sister Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, reprising the role here), was a young boy at the time who was sent away from Rome for his own safety. Fifteen years later, here he is played by Mescal, more muscular than usual but thankfully not to the cartoonish proportions of a Marvel character.

Lucius grew to manhood in Numidia in northern Africa and soon plunged into war against the Roman invaders. Scott masters the action scenes perfectly and underlines this with an extravagant opening fight. Numidians hurl fireballs at the approaching Roman ships, Roman arrows fly towards the Numidian battlements, Lucius’ warrior wife is killed and he is captured and sent to Rome, where he vows revenge on the Empire’s General Acacius (Pedro Pascal).

The Rome he returns to is more colorful and spooky than ever before. Now there are two decadent emperors, twins who rule together, with no regard for the population, spooky visions with pasty white facial makeup and heavy eyeliner. Joseph Quinn is particularly creepy, quietly intense and terrifying as Geta, the smarter and therefore more dangerous of the two. Fred Hechinger is the wild-eyed, out-of-control Caracella, the Fredo to Geta’s Michael Corleone. Washington plays the enigmatic Macrinus, a wealthy businessman and gladiator owner who buys Lucius. With jeweled rings on each finger and gold chains around his neck, Washington approaches the role with absolute enthusiasm and over-the-top performance, while Macrinus strives for power. But sometimes he pulls the performance back enough to reveal the cleverness behind that brash personality. Pascal’s fans may be disappointed by his relatively small role and subdued performance. He doesn’t make much of an impression, although it turns out that Acacius is married to Lucilla and shares her desire to overthrow the insane, bloodthirsty emperors.

In the big action scenes in the arena, Scott pulls out all the stops. A Roman comes in riding a rhinoceros. The editing is kinetic as tigers and baboons are unleashed against Lucius and the other gladiators, called barbarians. Lucius is so fierce that he bites a baboon’s furry arm. Up close, these baboons appear strikingly artificial, a weakness in special effects that are generally slick. Some distant backgrounds also appear to be purely computer-generated, but Scott stages the action with enough volatility to overcome these minor glitches. Where his last Napoleon (2023) was big and sluggish, and House of Gucci (2021) a ridiculous mess, Gladiator II has the masterful pacing of Scott’s best films, including the classics Foreigner (1979) and Blade Runner (1982).

In the smaller episodes, Scott knows when to give Mescal the close-ups that allow him to shine and radiate Lucius’ determination and anger. This is especially true of his defiant conversations with Macrinus, who doesn’t yet know that Lucius is the heir to the empire but wonders why this gladiator can quote Virgil. Mescal’s intelligent performance elevates the film’s level beyond its violent combat.

And some of the violence is emotional. As the film’s trailer reveals, most viewers know right from the start that Lucius is the son of Maximus, so we’re way ahead of most of the characters. But one of the most exciting episodes occurs when Lucilla recognizes the gladiator as her son and visits him in his prison-like cell – a meeting that exceeds our simple expectations.

As the film approaches its ultimate battles, camp levels rise. There’s a scene with Macrinus, the Roman Senate, and a severed head (no spoilers; it’s not Washington’s head) that’s just silly. At times, Washington and the Imperial Twins seem to be in their own little campfest, but rather than standing out from the rest of the film, this style is another sign that “Gladiator II” is intended to be an entertaining romp.

Beneath its audience-friendly surface, however, the film’s theme of political power and who wields it and how is strong and purposeful, even if Scott clumsily weaves it into the colorful show. Asked by The New York Times When he saw a connection between his Roman Empire and today’s political world, Scott answered bluntly: “Yes. If we’re not careful, it’s going to get worse,” adding, “I’m trying to keep that at the forefront.” film that points to some of Lucius’ questions about what Rome values. “Is this how Rome treats its heroes?” Lucius screams from the arena as one of them is killed.

This social theme was evident in the first Gladiator, where the civic-minded Senator Gracchus (Derek Jacobi, who returns briefly in the sequel) warns against underestimating the superficiality of the crowd, which is easily appeased with bread and circuses. “He will bring them death and they will love him for it,” he says of Commodus, who offers nothing more than the distraction of the games. In Gladiator II, Lucilla says, “People are tired of madness and tyranny.” Which of these is right is the open question of the sequel, as Lucius speaks of his grandfather’s dream of a Roman Republic and asks the citizens, “Let us dare.” “It’s to rebuild this dream together?”

If we’re lucky, Scott might have an answer. He told The Hollywood Reporter that he has an idea for Gladiator III that is inspired by The Godfather II. From his lips to the ears of the Roman gods.

Gladiator II releases on November 15th in the UK and November 22nd in the US.