Paul Mescal as Hanno in Gladiator IIGladiator IICinemark Buckland Hills 18 XD and IMAXManchesterNov. 21, 2024Twenty-four years in the making, Gladiator II is a direct sequel to the movie of the same name starring Russell Crowe that came out in 2000. The set-up for the movie is simple enough: Roman soldiers led by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) invade a nearby land, capturing Hanno (Paul Mescal) and forcing him into slavery. Hanno is purchased by Macrinus (Denzel Washington), a man who runs a stable of gladiators. Macrinus sees more than just another fighter in Hanno, though, and the two form a team based on revenge and ambition. As the name of the movie is Gladiator, the fight scenes are a big part of the attraction. I’m happy to say that they don’t disappoint. The action is brutal and visceral, with no expense spared on the sound effects as well as the visuals. Each bone-crunching punch and flesh-splitting stab looks authentic. There’s a fair amount of blood and gore, but the movie doesn’t overdo it, using blood spurts and gruesome deaths sparingly, and usually to highlight some aspect of the plot or characters.But Gladiator II isn’t just an action movie. It wants its talking scenes to be just as dramatic and satisfying as the action scenes. Here the movie falls a bit flat. (There are several twists and turns in the story that I don’t want to spoil, and the movie moves briskly through all of them.)To be honest, Washington is fine in the movie, but he’s really just himself in Roman robes. I never felt like he truly embodied the role of Macrinus or the debauchery and sin of the Roman Empire that he was a part of. I was looking for more melodrama in his performance. While he was by no means bad, I wanted something a little more outlandish in Washington’s acting that would have matched with the arc of his character.Gladiator IIis a popcorn flick, a good way to spend nearly two hours and 20 minutes, especially if you go see it with someone to cringe together with during the messy death scenes. It may not reach the heights that the original did, which won the Best Picture and Best Actor Oscars back in 2000. But Ridley Scott captures enough of the gladiatorial spirit to have the whole audience believing in the Roman Dream by the end of the film.Denzel Washington as Macrinus Connie Nielsen as Lucilla