Take Two: ‘Gladiator II’ Sunk By Weak Script, Lead Performance

Paul Mescal is a very, very talented actor.

He received an Oscar nomination for indie darling Aftersun where he broke millions of hearts with his sympathetic and authentic portrayal of a father suffering from depression. He was fantastic in the criminally underrated All of Us Strangers. He also popped in the cult-favorite limited series Normal People. In fact, it’s very hard to believe that he’s really only broken out within the last four years.

But every actor has their limitations. It is my opinion that Mescal found his in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II.

Here, he plays “Hanno,” a mysterious figure captured by Roman invaders who becomes a famous gladiator fighting in the Roman Colosseum. Of course, “Hanno” has a true identity (which I won’t reveal despite literally everyone on Earth knowing who he really is), and as such he leads a revolt against the corruption of Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). However, Mescal’s physical presence as an actor, despite months of (overly documented online) training, isn’t menacing or imposing enough to imagine him surviving more than a few rounds in the combat ring, let alone organizing a revolt.

Thanks to a confused and meandering script, Mescal’s left to mug and grunt for the camera, clearly desperate for something meatier in which to sink his teeth. As an actor, he’s clearly more comfortable and better suited for more intimate material. Here, he’s buried by not only the bombast of the production design and score but also the wildly over-the-top performances.

Denzel Washington, playing former slave Macrinus, knows the deal here. As such, he relishes in the audacity of his scripted moments. He understands he’s playing in an elaborately overwrought universe, and he relishes every second of it. Is it his “best performance” as many have claimed? Clearly you’ve not seen Malcolm X, but he’s having great fun and brings a vital energy to the production just as Mescal seems determined to sink it all in earnestness.

My issues with Washington in the film has nothing to do with his performance. Rather, the screenplay sets him up to be an age-old stereotype — the scheming Black man out to kill the white rulers. In my screening, when certain events happen during the film’s climax, white voices in my theater cried out in joy. A truly nauseating experience. Is that what the filmmakers intended? I absolutely do not believe so. However, the screenplay travels in so many clichés that it sets this up as an unfortunate occurrence.

Look, Gladiator II isn’t a total miss. There are great battle sequences, expertly shepherded by Ridley Scott, that beat any moments in last year’s Napoleon. Despite his age, this is a man who knows how to make a film. One of my favorite sequences involves the controversial flooding of the Colosseum and filling it with man-eating sharks. Do I think this ever really happened? Of course not. Do I care? Absolutely not. It made for fantastic spectacle, a sort of metaphor for the glorious excesses that sank the Roman empire. It’s the only truly fun moment in the film that brought me something close to awe.

For the rest of the running time, Gladiator II is an over-long soap opera that forgets its primary goal: to entertain.

Gladiator II is now playing in theaters worldwide.