Peter Viney's Blog

2024
Directed by Ridley Scott
Screenplay by David Scarpa
Story by Peter Craig and David Scarpa
Based on characters by David Franzoni
Music by Harry Gregson-Williams

MAJOR CAST
Paul Mescal – Lucius, aka Haddo. The central gladiator.
Denzal Washington – Macrinus, master of the gladiators
Pedro Pascal- General Acacius
Connie Nielson – Lucilla, wife of Acacius
Joseph Quinn – Emperor Geta
Fred Hechinger – Emperor Caracalla
Lior Raz – Viggo, chief gladiator trainer
Alexander Karim – Ravi , doctor
Yuvel Gonen – Arishat, Haddo’s wife
Tim McInnerny- Senator Thraex
Richard McCabe- Senator Quaestor
Derek Jacobi- Senator Gracchus
Peter Mensah- Jugurtha, Numidian leader
Matt Lucas- Master of Ceremonies

It was a long wait for a sequel to Gladiator. It’s a 15 in the UK, and we had contemplated taking early teens. We didn’t. Don’t. It’s far too gory. As much violence as you can imagine … though no sex beyond a chaste kiss, nor bad language.

It’s sixteen years on. Maximus is dead but revered.

We start in a pastoral scene in Numidia (Algeria or Tunisia), with Haddo and his wife Arishat feeding the chickens in bucolic bliss, while a goat chomps at the fruit tree. Then we hear the Romans are coming. Well, fair enough, but if we take the year as circa 160 AD, Numidia had been a Roman province for 250 years. It was conquered Carthage. The city is huge with castellated walls, and built on rock right to the edge of the sea. This is convenient for the huge Roman fleet which can row right up to crash head on into the walls, with a siege tower on front.

The fierce Roman General Acacius is leading the fleet. Haddo and Arishat don their armour. Haddo is a captain, she is an archer in fetching fitted breastplate. Both sides sling heated iron balls at each other. We won’t go into how you heat iron so it’s at melting point on a wooden ship, but when they cross the walls they explode as if bombs (160 AD). You may not have seen a battle this good.

The upshot is Arishat gets an arrow in the chest and falls into the sea and Haddo also is thrown from the walls into the sea. He finds her dead body, dreams of the River Styx, and breaks off the arrow flight to keep. The prisoners become slaves and are shipped off to Ostia, the port of Rome.

I won’t go into so much detail from here. Historical accuracy is irrelevant to the impact of the film. I went with my grandson who could tell you something about every Roman emperor with dates. You put that aside.

The gladiator master is Macrinus, an historical figure. Reviews point out that the real one was Berber, not sub-Saharan African (a polite way of saying lightly suntanned rather than black). Let’s be clear. This is Denzel Washington. He is a great actor. That is why Macrinus is ‘sub-Saharan’ in appearance. Also, Jugurtha, the Numidian leader, is sub-Saharan ethnicity. The other Numidians look North African, not sub-Saharan. But then that part was filmed in Morocco. So to the gladiator school? It’s tough, but I expect you knew it would be. Haddo gets knocked about by Viggo, the trainer.

At the Colosseum, Matt Lucas is Master of Ceremonies. The “twin” Emperors are two twisted sadistic perves, Caracalla and Geta. Apparently they were conceived as Beavis and Butthead in togas, with a touch of Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious. Whatever, they are brilliantly nasty. At one point Geta appoints his beloved pet monkey as a consul (echoing Caligula and his horse). Caracalla points out that Geta has had the disease of his loins spread to his brain. OK, that would be syphilis, but that didn’t appear in Europe until 1495.

There is a fight between the newly arrived gladiators armed only with chains and savage hairless baboons. I would describe them as created SFX monsters myself. Still very scary.

After his first gig at the Colosseum, Haddo is to fight at a party run by Senator Thraex for the Emperors. . Senator Thraex is getting into deep trouble gambling with Macrinus on the fights. On winning Haddo refuses to answer to Latin, Macrinus explains he only speaks a ‘colonial language’ but then Haddo spouts a long quote from Virgil. This is all in English, but we work out that he has in fact just spoken in Latin. We begin to wonder. What was that about him being found in the desert by the Numidians as a boy? We keep getting flashbacks. A boy being sent away from Rome. All will become clear.

The Haddo v rhinoceros fight in the Colosseum is the height of animal SFX. The Battle of Salamis with two ships in a flooded Colosseum is truly astonishing to behold (Nitpick – it was the Greeks led by the Athenians versus the Persians, NOT the Trojans as announced).

The plotting senators are lifted from Julius Caesar (the play) and what a parade of English acting nobility – Derek Jacobi was in the first one, but is joined by Tim McInnerny as Senator Thraex (Captain Darling in Blackadder) and Richard McCabe as Senator Quaestor. Richard McCabe was the best Puck we ever saw on stage, as well as Mephistopheles to Jude Law’s Faust. They wish to get rid of the two mad emperors and restore the Roman republic, shades of Julius Caesar again, though by 160 AD it was a bit late.

Part of the plot is that very General Acacius who destroyed the Numidian city. Haddo has said what he wants most is Acacius’s head, blaming him for the death of his wife and destruction of the city.  Acacius is married to Lucilla, daughter of Marcus Aurelius. She had a son in her previous marriage, whose real father was the gladiator Maximus from the first film. The son was sent away … oh, go on. You work out the plot.

In one of the many colosseum fights, Haddo tried to shoot Acacius with a crossbow. There is an argument afterwards where Viggo accuses Haddo of being the bowman, and every gladiator shouts ‘It was me.’ Where did they get that from? (I am Spartacus!) Both Acacius and Haddo are good guys it will turn out.

One jarring bit is Haddo (who discovers he is actually Lucius, which he may or may not remember) is raging at Lucilla and sending her away. The next scene he’s reversed. An emotional transition was needed.

The verdict?
Thumb up or thumb down?

In the end? This is an epic defining the word ‘epic.’ Forget historical accuracy. It gives a wider picture of Rome with elements stretching over a few years (centuries?). It doesn’t hammer home too many later thoughts either. OK, colonisation and Imperialism are bad things. The stars are all extremely well-cast. Paul Mescal will be a major action star.

My grandson gave it 7.5 out of 10. I gave it 4 out of 5. So thumb up.

According to Wiki, Ridley Scott is planning Gladiator III. As Lucius is now … well, important … it’s hard to see how gladiatorial contests are going to continue.