The curse of the Legacy Sequel continues as Ridley Scott resurrects the corpse of a twenty three year old Best Picture winner ‘Gladiator’ with his latest film ‘Gladiator II’. When the well runs dry it’s time to return to old sources and this stone hasn’t bled in a while. Let’s see if it gives us any of the good stuff, eh?

If you’ve seen ‘Gladiator’ the plot of the sequel is beat for beat very similar. The only notable exception is that rather than a general who has been betrayed, Academy Award Nominee Paul Mescal plays Lucius, an imprisoned criminal of war, fighting his way up the ranks just as Russel Crowe’s character did in the first film. But it does contain all the steps in the recipe for what made Gladiator the success that it was. The only notable exception is the performance of the man who owns Lucius, Macrinus (Denzel Washington).

It’s the kind of performances I’d expect someone to try to rein in. Denzel takes up so much space anytime he’s on screen, at points it feels like the movie might pivot and become about Macrinus instead of Lucius. Even the other performers that have time with Denzel shine brighter when he’s their scene partner, Mescal’s delivery of “I will never be your instrument” reminded me why he got his Oscar nomination for ‘Aftersun’. Connie Nielsen’s character Lucilla returns to the series and goes toe to toe with Macrinus and it’s probably her best performance across both movies.

The other two performacnes that surprised me were Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, playing the twin emperors that are running Rome into the ground. Quinn especially is having fun putting some mustard on the performacnes and he, Hechinger, and Denzel frolic about like villains in a Shakespeare play whenever they share screen time.

But as interesting and impressive of a performance as Denzel gives, the film goes back to the rote meter it was drumming along to. Lucius fights in the arena, gaining fame and glory as Macrinus hatches a plot to usurp the evil twin emperors. Even the sword play feels like a sad echo of what we saw in the first. Which is frustrating because Scott released ‘The Last Duel’ just three years ago, and if you’ve seen the titular last duel, you know the man can direct an action sequence. The furthest my eyes rolled back was when Lucius went down to the graves of former gladiators and adorned the armor and sword of Maximus. The Curse of the Legacy Sequel must be satiated, whether it be comic book, horror series, or best picture winner.

3/5