Dir. Ridley Scott, UK/UK, 2024, 148 mins

Cast: Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielson

Review by Carol Allen

Twenty four years have passed since Russell Crowe as gladiator Maximus dominated the colosseum of Rome. His son Lucius (Paul Mescal), who was sent into exile for his own safety by his mother Lucilla has grown up, married and made a new life in another country.

Until that is the Roman army with its lust for conquest comes a-conquering and Lucius is captured, taken back to Rome and enrolled in the gladiator school, run by former slave Macrinus (Denzel Washington).

This is a well thought out sequel with an excellent cast. Veteran director Scott is a master at spectacle, which is prominent in this. Apart from the battle scenes, the scenes in the colosseum are splendid. Gladiators battling with strange exotic beasts or at one point the arena flooded with the gladiators fighting each other from two ships. The crowds look pretty real and enthusiastic too, wound up as they are by Matt Lucas as the Roman equivalent of an MC. Not much talk of bread but there are circuses in abundance

The main story works well too. This is the short year in Roman history when the two brothers shared the Emperor role – Joseph Quinn as Emperor Geta and Fred Hechinger as Caracalla. They are a pretty poisonous and rather camp pair, poncing about in heavy eye make up and really enjoying the sadism of the circuses and the power they have when they give the thumbs down vote of death.

While not quite as imposing as his father, Mescal is nicely buffed up and handsome as Lucius the hero, who between turns in the arena is touchingly reunited with his long lost mother (Connie Nielsen back in the role of the now older Lucilla). Derek Jacobi has a spit and a cough return as senator Gracchus but the most interesting character in many ways is the villainous Macrinus. He is a ruthless social climber, who has clawed his way from slavery to a position of power and has his eye on grabbing the ultimate prize, ruler of empire itself. Washington, who usually takes the hero role, plays him to the hilt, to the extent there are times when you believe he may actually achieve his aim.

AVAILABLE TO BUY ON DIGITAL JANUARY 14 & ON DVD, BLU-RAY™, 4K UHD™, 4K UHD STEELBOOK® & 4K UHD HMV EXCLUSIVE STEELBOOK® MARCH 3, 2025

Bonus content is detailed below:

A Dream That Was Rome: Origins—Director Ridley Scott and producers delve into the history behind Gladiator II and how the story developed over many years before coming to the screen.
What We Do In Life Echoes In Eternity: The Cast—Take an inside look into Ridley Scott’s casting process.
In The Arena: Filmmakers—Go behind the scenes as the cast and crew journey to Malta, Morocco, and the UK for the epic production.
To Those About To Die, We Salute You: Combat—Discover how Ridley Scott and his team combined choreographed combat with cutting-edge visual effects to take the action to a whole new level.
Building An Empire: Post-Production—Join the filmmakers for insights into the fascinating process of crafting the finished movie, which includes a scoring session led by composer Harry Gregson-Williams.
The Making Of Gladiator II—Explore how Ridley Scott, the cast, and crew worked to bring Gladiator II to life.
Deleted Scenes

GLADIATOR II will arrive on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD, 4K UHD SteelBook® and 4K UHD HMV Exclusive SteelBook® March 3, 2025. The HMV Exclusive SteelBook® will include six artcards and a double-sided poster.