Gladiator II First Reviews – “Pure Camp”, “Entertaining”, and “A Fun Romp”

After months of anticipation, Gladiator II has arrived and is meeting its first audiences around the world ahead of its November 22 release date.

The review embargo has now lifted, and we have our first indicator of how people feel about the film, expanding on the first impressions to early screenings.

Erik Anderson at AwardsWatch says, "Gladiator II is the grandest spectacle of the year, a stirring epic and Paul Mescal is a worthy successor to the throne."

Paul Mescal stars alongside Connie Nielsen, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Derek Jacobi, Fred Hechinger, and Denzel Washington in this tale, which serves as a follow-up to Ridley Scott's Gladiator, released almost 25 years ago.

"It's a Saturday-night epic of tony escapism," Owen Gleiberman at Variety says, "But is it great? A movie to love the way that some of us love Gladiator? No and no. It's ultimately a mere shadow of that movie. But it's just diverting enough to justify its existence."

Gladiator currently sits at #35 on IMDb's Top 250 Films list, so Gladiator II was always going to have its work cut out trying to prove it can stand toe to toe with Ridley Scott's highly regarded epic.

Gladiator II currently has a score of 76% on Rotten Tomatoes from 91 reviews, which is just a 3% drop off from the first film's Certified Fresh score of 79%.

Critiques of Gladiator II include "The thrill of the action sequences just underscores the hollowness of the rest of the enterprise," says Alison Willmore of Vulture.

Hannah Strong at Little White Lies also gave the film a rotten rating, saying, "Gladiator II lacks both the gravitas and simple but satisfying narrative arc which made its foundation such a refreshing epic."

The Times' (UK) Kevin Maher called the film "Scott's most disappointing "legacy sequel" since Prometheus. It's a scattershot effort with half-formed characters (with one exception) and undernourished plotlines that seem to exist only in conversation with the Russell Crowe original."

Despite the scatter of negative reviews, many critics are referring to the film as "pure camp", "entertaining", and "a fun romp".

Gladiator II hits theaters on November 22, 2024.

Gladiator II Review Roundup

• Discussing Film: Gladiator II doesn't reach the same emotional heights as the original movie. However, for all the highly entertaining madness it has going for it, this legacy sequel is more than worthy.
• indieWire: Unfortunately, the film’s action sequences, arguably the biggest audience draw, do little to distract from the lackluster narrative.
• Guardian: This sequel is watchable and spectacular, with the Colosseum created not digitally but as a gobsmacking 1-to-1 scale physical reconstruction with real crowds. Yet this film is weirdly almost a next-gen remake.
• Entertainment Weekly: While some of the plot points may leave a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach given their modern parallels, one truth rises above the rest: With a movie this meticulously made, there's no way to not be entertained.
• Collider: Gladiator II can't live up to the lofty expectations Gladiator set up, yet the sequel is at its best when it tries to carve its own path in this Roman world.