Gladiator II - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray SteelBook

I’m going to be blunt and just come right out and say it, some directors just shouldn’t make sequels to their biggest hits. It’s enough that they got the ball rolling and should a franchise be necessary, (necessary being the optimal word there), someone else with a plan and forward vision should take the helm of the next outing. After a couple of attempts at sequels and prequels, I am now firmly in the camp that Sir. Ridley Scott, one of the best directors of his generation, just should not make sequels to his biggest hits. While Gladiator II is a far from terrible and an amiable entertaining effort, it’s the shadows and dust version of the 2000 Oscar-winning effort. 

Our film picks up sixteen years after Maximus’ victory over Commodus in the Colosseum with Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal) living peacefully in exile. Sent away as a child, he grew up in Numedia. Now under siege as the last free city of Africa Nova by General Acacius (Pedro Pascal), Lucius and his wife help lead the resistance, but she falls. After the Roman victory, Lucious is taken as a slave and finds himself sold to the power-hungry Macrinus (Denzel Washington) as a gladiator. With the Emperor twins Geta and (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) calling for new games celebrating Acacius’ victory, Macrinus sees his opportunity to seize power in Rome and Lucius given the opportunity to exact his revenge. 

24 years is a long time between sequels, especially when no one was really asking for a sequel to 2000’s Best Picture and Best Actor Oscar-winning Gladiator. That isn’t to say that there wasn’t room for a sequel given the expanse of Roman history, but for a film that feels like a greatest hits rehash of favorite moments or deleted concepts, this sequel doesn't feel all that exciting or new. From CGI alopecic baboons to a CGI rhino to CGI sharks in the flooded Colosseum, there is a frustrating lack of practical depth to the story amidst all of the spectacle. These fights happen because they happen and for little or no other reason. I would have loved to see that Nick Cave script come to fruitition, that thing sounded absolutely wild and darring without the safety of this film's familiarity.

That isn’t to say Gladiator II is void of any entertainment value, it’s certainly fun, but it’s far from great. The fight sequences are bloody and exciting but also come with an air of repetition. We’ve seen bloody dismembering sword fights in the Colosseum already. The naval fight should have been the film's climax but it felt like another sequence to merely "get through" rather than generate pulse-pounding excitement. Maybe it's because I watched Conclave again recently that I thought it was more fun was watching someone like Denzil Washignton scheme and plot his way into power rather than another protracted actrion beat. If we're talking action for the sake of action, a full-scale battle between the Roman legions and the Praetorian Guard would have been something fresh and unique. Instead, we get another fight to the death and flowery speeches about the glory of Rome. 

Much like Scott’s other sequel efforts Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, Gladiator II is a blend of big interesting ideas intermixed with odd character motivations and questionable plot developments. While the fight scenes are grand and staged with enough vigor to suggest Scott hasn’t lost his visceral visual touch, the various plot threads for the litany of primary characters never satisfyingly weave together. Lucius’ plan for revenge against the Roman General Acacius (who is also the lover of his mother Lucilla played again by Connie Nielsen)  is enough plot for one film. Acacius plotting an insurrection against Emperors Geta and Caracalla against the backdrop of the fall of Rome is enough plot for one film. Marcrinus’ rise in power and his political machinations to overthrow Rome from within is enough plot for one film. All three plots together are a tangled web of threads that are touched on but never pulled tightly enough to weave into a satisfying outcome. 

I guess all of this is to say that Gladiator II is just okay. It’s not terrible, it's fine entertainment, it passes the time, but like the shadows and dust of fallen fighters in the arena, it’s not likely to be remembered as fondly compared to Ridley Scott and Russell Crowes' initial run at sword-and-sandal filmmaking. Thus I return to my earlier assertion that Scott and sequels (Hannibal notwithstanding because he didn’t direct Silence of the Lambs) just don’t come together. Scott's output for the last two decades has been fairly hit or miss. Of his franchise efforts, Prometheus, Covenant, and now Gladiator II are frustrating examples of tantalizing missed opportunities, especially when they feel like they were under the gun to get made and released whether they were ready or not. Let alone if they needed to have been made at all. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Gladiator II takes to the arena of 4K SteelBooks with a three-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital release. The 4K is pressed on a BD100 disc with a Region Free BD50 disc serving the 1080p while a Region Free BD25 disc serves for the bonus features. The discs load to static image main menus with standard navigation options. All three discs are housed inside the SteelBook package that echoes a similar look to Paramount's SteelBook offering of 2000's Gladiator on 4K UHD.

While the film itself might not be the greatest ever made, the 2160p Dolby Vision transfer is a grand tribute to the format! Right from the start, the fine details in facial features, the costumes of the Roman and Numidian armies, the city, and the practically-built warships - all are on display. While there is quite a bit of CGI that can feel a tad weightless for some of the big expansive shots, where it counts most this image is stunning. Shot by original Gladiator cinematographer John Mathison, the film maintains that gritty look of Rome, albeit with a more digital veneer since it was captured at 4.5K and finished on a 4K DI. Regardless of filming equipment and format, it’s one hell of a great-looking feature. The costumes and set design are just as ornate and expansive lending some grounded reality to those CGI scene extensions and sharks. The sun-drenched color scheme nicely matches the first film letting those combat scenes in the arena shine while the flame-licked night-time interiors highlight the shadowy plotting. Throughout, the Dolby Vision grade is smartly applied giving the colors, black levels, and bright bold whites a healthy push without overplaying its hand. Front to back a great-looking transfer.

On the audio side of the A/V spectrum, Gladiator II delivers an exhilarating reference-quality Dolby Atmos experience. Play it loud and let slip the dogs of war! Once those catapults start firing and the arrows start flying, it’s a wall-to-wall experiment in immersion. Quick dialog exchanges and screams of agony aren’t lost in these exciting action-packed segments. Surrounds and overheads all deliver pin-point specific effects while LFE rattles away at the floorboards from the impacts and explosions. When the film moves into quieter moments, there’s still ample sound effects work within the mix to keep these extra channels engaged. The stone walls of the palace and senate chambers or the dingy cavernous dungeons holding the gladiators each have their own dynamic sonic presence. But the battles command the most attention for this release and this track never falters.

On the bonus features, we have another far cry from the original Gladiator. Bonus features here while somewhat insightful are more of the checking the boxes variety than anything that really digs deep like what we saw with the first film. Without a commentary track or several hours worth of documentary and interview footage, we have what amounts to a decent, informative set of extras. The deleted scenes aren’t much to report on beyond excised plot threads and scene extensions that all felt cut for time and pace rather than any kind of content value.

• A Dream That Was Rome: Origins (HD 11:18)
• What We Do in Life, Echoes in Eternity: The Cast (HD 15:26)
• In the Arena: Filmmakers (HD 13:25)
• To Those About to Die, We Salute You: Combat (HD 13:58)
• Building an Empire: Post-Production (HD 21:24)
• The Making of Gladiator II (HD 20:05)
• Deleted Scenes: (HD 9:54 Total)
• Centho Bears Mark of Fugitive 
• Lucilla and the Emperors 
• Fortuna and Lucius at the Party
• Lucilla Looks Out of the Window 
• Macrinus Sees Acacius Statue 
• Lucilla in the Crypt 
• Fortuna Visits Lucius in His Cell 
• Lucilla Mourns Acacius
• Ravi Hands Out the Keys 
• Macrinus Greets Caracalla

I was hopeful that Ridley Scott could make something like Gladiator II work. And while it succeeds as a somewhat entertaining outing, I don’t love it. I don’t hate it either, but there’s little here to really garner the level of excitement that the Oscar-winning original Gladiator commanded. Performances are generally fine with Washington stealing the show and combined with the spectacle of bloody combat, there’s enough that works to keep the time interesting. However, it does make for one hell of a technically exceptional 4K UHD release. The 2160p Dolby Vision transfer is flawless and the Atmos audio mix is a grand exhilarating sonic experience. I wish there were more to the bonus features, but what’s here is at least informative. 24 years is a long time between sequels and truthfully we could have gone the rest of time without a Gladiator II. But we got one and it’s at least worth taking a gander at and this 4K disc is certainly deserving of your attention if you aim to add it to the collection. At the very least, Recommended