Almost a quarter-century after Ridley Scott went full Roman for Gladiator, he returns to the well for a second round—and instead of offering up a new take on the subject, it’s basically more of the same. 

The new antics involve everything from shark attacks (yes, shark attacks) to big rhinos and Pedro Pascal. Scott can still make a great-looking picture, but this one lacks the emotional punch that peak Russell Crowe helped deliver in the original. 

Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Joseph Quinn are new to the bloody toga party, while the likes of Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi reprise their roles from the first.

Mescal plays Lucius, son of Lucilla (Nielsen), exiled after the first movie when he was a preteen. He returns to Rome a prisoner of war, and basically goes through the same motions as Maximus (Crowe) before him.

Washington’s Macrinus is Lucius’ owner, who puts his latest warrior into a series of showdowns including the aforementioned shark-attack scenario. I don’t really like this movie, but I did enjoy the shark sequence, which involved the Colosseum being flooded with water and stocked with bloodthirsty sharks. One must wonder how they managed to get the sharks from the ocean to the arena back in Roman times. I’m pretty sure there were no aquariums. Historically improbable, but quite fun to watch. 

Alas, the rest of the movie is fairly routine and quite boring. Mescal gives it his all; Pascal is admirable as a Roman general; and Washington has his moments, but it’s all in the service of a sequel that didn’t need to happen. 

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