With “Gladiator II”, Ridley Scott plunges us back into the arena for beautiful bloody fights, but not only

CINEMA – Maximus is on the Champs-Élysées, Lucius in turn takes possession of the Colosseum in Gladiator II. This Wednesday, November 13, spectators will discover the highly anticipated second part of Ridley Scott's cult film released in 2000. The feature film with Paul Mescal is intended to be a faithful sequel to the film with Russell Crowe, with an almost entirely renewed cast. It was very dangerous, but it worked.

We must admit, it was with a little reluctance that we entered the arena, 24 years after leaving it. Gladiator is one of the cult films in the history of the 7th art, an almost sacred monument, considered impossible to revisit. Ridley Scott nevertheless took the risk with a daring bias: to rely (a little heavily sometimes) on the heritage of Gladiatorwhile reinventing the myth.

Gladiator II takes place 16 years after the deaths of Maximus and Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) on the sands of the Colosseum. The feature film follows the fate of Hanno (Paul Mescal), a Roman adopted by the Numidian people when he was a child and named Lucius. After the invasion of the army led by General Accacius (Pedro Pascal) and the death of his wife, he is taken as a slave to Rome and quickly spotted by the ambitious gladiator sponsor Macrinus (Denzel Washington).

Gladiator II, pure entertainment

Like the first, Gladiator II ticks all the boxes of the Hollywood blockbuster we love to watch while devouring (too) large quantities of popcorn. Ridley Scott spared no expense in offering spectators a visually dazzling film. The settings, some of them natural, are sublime. The costumes are superb. And the numerous battle and combat scenes are breathtaking.

Gladiator II notably pulls out all the stops in the arena. Exit the wild animals, spectators will be able to see Lucius confront rabid monkeys, a rhino or even sharks (yes yes). And a number of other armored fighters whom he works to correct with his fists and swords, sometimes even on the water.

Lucius unsurprisingly proves to be the worthy successor to Maximus at the Colosseum, inflaming the crowd with his strength, his violence and his impertinence towards the most powerful in Rome. He uses his position to try to obtain revenge on the general while the latter's wife, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), discovers that he is in reality the son she had with Maximus. At the same time, the twin emperors Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) and Geta (Joseph Quinn) reign as tyrants over Rome and the population. The behind-the-scenes political shenanigans spice up the story to add, as in the first, another dimension.

There is no shortage of references to the 2000 film. Besides Connie Nielsen (and Derek Jacobi who returns as Gracchus), Gladiator II floods the viewer with winks, memories and quotes, so much so that it is sometimes difficult not to make a (dangerous) comparison.

Five fighters in the arena

But where Gladiator was above all a story of revenge and a duel between two men, Gladiator II decided to bring more fighters into the arena. It is actually a ballet in which five protagonists confront and collide. Hanno is the star dancer and sees opposing forces gravitating around him, without even being aware of it: the complex general Accacius, the mother who abandoned him, the intransigent Macrinus, and the honorless emperor Geta.

Irish actor Paul Mescal, who became an impressive mountain of muscles for the role, has nothing to be ashamed of for his performance. But we must recognize a crush on those of the charismatic Denzel Washington and the young Joseph Quinn, notably spotted in Stranger Things.

Gladiator II is, in short, very good entertainment, a feature film not only epic but also very beautiful. Certainly, the specter of Gladiator hovers above him, sometimes a little too close. But nothing enough to prevent us from shivering with pleasure at hearing the words “ Strength and honor ».

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