During a scene of Gladiator II (VF), a prisoner tells the emperor that he would prefer to be tortured, rather than having to listen to him talk more. There are unfortunately several moments during this sequel to the Oscar-winning success for best picture, where we have the same thoughts in the room. Ridley Scott is back at the helm for what turns out to be not a failure, but a disappointment.
The opening shot of Gladiatorwhere the hand of Russell Crowe (Oscar for best actor) touches the wheat in a field, has become iconic since the film’s release in 2000. So much so that the sight of Paul Mescal’s hand in a bowl filled with grains of wheat at the beginning of Gladiator IIsymbolically marks the passage of time while immediately linking their two characters. We won’t say how, even if it’s obvious.
Either way, it’s one of the few good visual ideas in this sequel. A sequel which, unfortunately, relies far too much on scenes reproducing equivalent moments from the original, thus forcing a comparison to the disadvantage of the new production. One example among others: the hero’s motivational speech to his gladiator brothers, galvanizing in Gladiatorinsignificant in Gladiator II.
Written by David Scarpa, who wrote for Ridley Scott All the Money in the World (All the money in the world) et Napoleonnot exactly the best films of the brilliant but uneven filmmaker, Gladiator II begins, like its predecessor, with an imposing battle sequence led by a general thinking only of retiring with his people: Marcus (Pedro Pascal). During said battle, his path will tragically cross that of Lucius (Paul Mescal).
Lucius quickly finds himself a prisoner and then a gladiator on behalf of the ambitious Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who tries to get closer to the twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracala (Fred Hechinger). Several characters from the original return, including Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), daughter of the late Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who dreamed of returning Rome to the people. This old dream will be taken up by Lucius.
Coincidences and melodrama
Brief, Gladiator II tries, again like the original, to alternate backstage games and games in the arena. However, this time the balance is not there. The fault lies partly in said dialogues, overabundant and far from transcendent, but also in a much more melodramatic narrative content, and based on rather improbable coincidences.
Scott’s direction doesn’t always help either. For several years now, the director ofAlien et Blade Runner famously shoots with several cameras at the same time, which considerably increases the visual material available to him afterwards.
The trouble is that sometimes, as in House of Gucci (The Gucci saga) and now Gladiator IIthis results in a somewhat random sequence of shots — we look in vain for the point of view and the intention. Here, the hyperactive rhythm favored is often at odds with the content of the action. It’s as if the filmmaker grew tired of each image as soon as it appeared and chased it away in favor of another: it’s difficult to perceive the budget of 250 to 310 million US dollars on screen, as nothing or almost nothing was time to imprint itself on the retina.
This is particularly striking when we take the trouble to revisit the first film, where the average shot duration is longer without the pace suffering. Frenetic, the sequel is devoid of the majesty of the original.
Splendide Denzel Washington
In the main role, Paul Mescal, an extremely gifted actor as he demonstrated in After sun (Under the sun) et All of Us Strangers (Without ever knowing us), fails to make us forget Russell Crowe (whom we see again here and there in brief extracts from the first film, which doesn’t help). Mescal’s game is unusually monolithic.
Once an influential eminence grise, Lucilla is now reduced to more traditional functions of mother and wife. In this uninspired and, no doubt for the actress, uninspiring rereading of the role, Connie Nielsen, although very good in 2000, sometimes seems to have studied acting with Criquette Rockwell.
As pairs of sadistic emperors, Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger offer caricatures that are at first distracting, then tiresome.
In a counterexample of controlled extravagance, Denzel Washington steals the show as a manipulative schemer. The immense actor is splendid. Moreover, his character deserved a better exit than the clumsily staged and unspectacular one that the film has in store for him.
There remain some truly epic moments, as perhaps only Ridley Scott still knows how to offer, such as the reproduction of a naval fight in the arena, with sharks, no less.
If we are to believe the filmmaker, a third opus is already being considered. Hoping this one is more inspired.
The movie Gladiator II hits theaters on November 22.
