Gladiator II, the ultimate entertainment from Ridley Scott [critique]

Scott replicates his cult peplum: the result is an insane B series, a pinnacle of ultra-standard entertainment.

Who wanted to see a sequel to Gladiator ? Person. Not you, not us. Not even Ridley Scott. This is precisely what makes the film very interesting: the fact that its director himself does not shoot it as if he were fulfilling a twenty-year-old fantasy, but as a job like any other, between a biopic of Napoleon and another one of the Bee Gees. This is not white whaling. Neither one legacywhat designed by an heir obsessed with the first film. That said, we must not be mistaken: Gladiator II is designed primarily to satisfy the shareholders' office, and not any vox populi which would cry out for a sequel.

And what does Scott do? He throws you Gladiator in the face, and throws you a “are you not entertained?” cynical limit. We almost forget the second part of the reply: “Is that why you came?” You wanted Gladiator ? Are you here for that? (shouts of joy from the crowd) Here it is, and rare, from the AOC, the authentic one, made by its creator himself. That way, no one else is to blame but our own die-hard gluttony for distraction – our desire to “to be entertained to death”as Neil Postman wrote in 1985.

By reproducing quite banally the structure of Gladiator 1st story side (the hero, slave then gladiator, etc.), the sequel obviously demonstrates that the first film was very self-sufficient, and perhaps also the emptiness of the infinite reproductions of the futilities of the past – basically, that Gladiator II is nothing other than a replicant ultimate, this makes sense – replicating being one of the great Scottian obsessions. The animated intro sequence, summarizing the highlights of the first film, is by Gianluigi Toccafondo, author of the Scott Free logo sequence – continuity of imitations and replicas.

The first Gladiator was already a sacred replicant : an imitation of imitation (the peplum of the great era, which imitated spectacular silent cinema, itself imitated by orientalist illustrators, etc.), in which the Romans, having nothing more to conquer (as Maximus says after the intro battle where the Barbarians are crushed without surprise, “there is no one left to fight”), find themselves emulating their past battles in the Colosseum arena (the Battle of Zama).

In Gladiator IIwhen Lucius (Paul Mescal, rather good) rubs his hands in the dust of the arena before fighting, he effectively imitates Maximus; not out of symbolism but out of pragmatism (he will throw dust to blind a rhino that charges him). No more room for grandeur, for poetry, for “this dream that was Rome”. No birth of a new star (Russell Crowe) by the revival of the peplum – what was said Gladiatorin short. It is decadence, the fall, the great fiesta on the ruins of the world, enjoyment before the end.

Precisely: it is first of all on the ground of kif – therefore of the purest pragmatism – that Gladiator II proves to be the most effective. Scott knows that if he's going to remake his own film, he might as well make it as fun as possible. You might as well put baboons and sharks in the arena, you might as well portray Roman emperors as degenerate thugs, closer to Brighton Beach than to the Palatine (genius of the duo Joseph Quinn/Fred Hechingerstraight out of Uncut Gems). We might as well let the mind-blowing slaughter of Denzel Washingtonwho plays his character self-made man set out to conquer power as a replicant of Alonzo Harris rather than Frank Lucas.

Where Alien: Romulus (produced by Ridley) made titanic efforts to achieve a small clone ofAliens, the return, Gladiator II also imitates, but not to end up with a beast clone of the first film: the film is a decadent B series because it wants to be – but an ultimate B series, like the peplums of the great era, without any meta or contemptuous. It is therefore a pragmatic film, which does not seek to be anything else: in this, it is a form of piracy of the contemporary blockbuster, at the same time as a lesson to meditate on in terms of great spectacle. No need to die to do it either, you just need to be a good craftsman with the right tools.

Scott turned Gladiator II as usual, like his other films, in the allotted time, even below the planned budget, and with the final cut – which is also ten minutes shorter than the first film. And that's the job. Are you not entertained? Was that what you wanted? Cries of joy from the crowd.