Movie Thoughts: Gladiator II (2024)

• Released: October 18th, 2024
  
• Directed by: Ridley Scott
• Running time: 2h 28min
• Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

A man named Hanno is forced into fighting in the Colosseum. Will he survive?

My Thoughts

Once, like, years ago, I watched the first Gladiator. I thought it was okay, but I don't really remember anything of it. Still, I wanted to give the sequel a go. 

And it was...solid. I had a good time and the movie had me invested throughout its runtime. Despite my memories of the first movie being sparse, I had no trouble following along with the plot or who the characters are and I thought it was overall an interesting movie. 

The main highlight for me really was the Colosseum games, though. There's a lot of stuff going on in the background as well (mostly politics), and sure, that was also interesting. But I was the most invested in Hanno and his struggle to stay alive during the increasingly dangerous and difficult challenges he has to face as a gladiator. That's where the core of the movie is for me.

The characters I did find interesting. Hanno isn't the most compelling protagonist out there, but you do root for him and want him to succeed. I did like his mother and Acacius as well, and I thought Macrinus was a compelling villain. So the character-writing was handled pretty well.

One thing that did have me a tad disappointed is that they seem to be teasing a big cat fight throughout the movie (tiger/lion roars can often be heard in the background and at one point we do see a tiger in a cage), but then this fight never ends up happening. As a big cat fan I'd have liked to see a challenge involving tigers or lions for Hanno to overcome, but I guess a rhino and monkeys will just have to do.

So yeah, solid movie. I don't think the original movie needed a sequel, but for what they did with it: good job.