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GLADIATOR II – Harry Gregson-Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE FILM, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER WAITING UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE DONE SO TO READ IT.
Almost 25 years after director Ridley Scott and lead actor Russell Crowe brought the swords-and-sandals Roman epic back to the Hollywood mainstream with their movie Gladiator – and won Best Picture at the Oscars to boot – we have a sequel in the shape of Gladiator II. It’s a wonderful example of old-fashioned epic filmmaking on a grand scale, full of massive battle scenes, opulent visuals, and heightened emotional drama.
The film is set in the Roman Empire circa the year 200AD during the reign of twin emperors Geta and Caracalla; it stars Paul Mescal as Hanno, a simple farmer living in the North African region of Numidia, who is taken prisoner by a Roman army led by General Acacius (Pedro Pascal) after they successfully attack and conquer his home city in a great naval battle; Hanno’s warrior wife Arishat is killed in combat. Hanno is taken to Rome as a slave and sold to a gladiator school owned by Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who promises Hanno an opportunity to kill Acacius if he wins enough fights in Rome. However, there is much more afoot; Acacius is secretly part of a plot to overthrow the stupid and corrupt emperors and intends to return Rome to its former glories. Macrinus, meanwhile, has his own plans for political advancement, and intends to use his gladiators to attain it. And as for Hanno… there is much more to him than meets the eye, and a lot of it relates to Acacius’s wife Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), and her former relationship with the gladiator Maximus, who died in the arena all those years ago. Read more…
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