Watch "Gladiator 2" for awesomeness not accuracy
“Gladiator 2,” directed by Ridley Scott, starring Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington, has made a whopping $111.2 million in the domestic box office, making it a hit despite having a lot of competition. Critics and amateur historians are tearing “Gladiator 2” apart for its historical inaccuracy to the Roman Empire but accuracy isn't director Ridley Scott's main concern.
“Gladiator 2” is a sequel to “Gladiator,” from 2000. It continues the story of the ancient empire. The sequel is years after the first one and follows a group of new characters, the big ones being Lucius played by Paul Mescal, Macrinus played by Denzel and General Acacius played by Pedro Pascal. The film follows the story of Lucius trying to make way of his new life in Rome and fighting in the coliseum as well as connecting with his past life and Macrinus a gladiator owner rises to the top of Rome politically and General Acacius with the task of fighting his people of the Roman empire and being conflicted between what's wrong and right for the empire. “Gladiator 2” explores themes of family, power, revenge and the legacy from the main character Maximus from the first film.
“Gladiator 2” is criticized for some inaccuracies of ancient Rome, such as wrong outfits, wrong depiction of animals used in the coliseum, among other things, and I will say this is one of the bigger problems with this film. My others being at times it's a little confusing and hard to keep up with and most performances were great, especially Denzel Washington's,but lead in the film Paul Mescal’s character Lucius felt empty and shallow at times. It isn't really until the end of the film that we know much about him.
I do think those are very minor problems for the film considering the very sweet but sharp score and the beautiful cinematography and an edge of a seat plot line which makes you wanna keep watching the whole thing from start to finish. The creative choices made in the film gives a sense to the viewer of what it would be like to be inside of ancient Rome and outstanding performances from almost everyone attached to the film and is what I'd consider a really,really good sequel.