Gladiator II: A Rightful Heir
The sword and sandal sequel takes a veer toward hereditarianism.
From my new movie review in Taki’s Magazine:
December 04, 2024
Sir Ridley Scott’s 2000 movie Gladiator with Russell Crowe as the hero Maximus has been one of the more unexpectedly culturally influential films of the 21st century.
Americans had thought endlessly about Ancient Rome until the later 20th century, as my recent visit to Washington, D.C., pointed out. Countless structures in our nation’s capital are modeled on the interior of Hadrian’s Pantheon, from the Capitol rotunda to the Metro stations.
Similarly, sword-and-sandal movies, for instance, had been a huge deal in the 1950s and 1960s, both low-budget Steve Reeves types and colossal epics like Cleopatra. But ancient times fell radically out of fashion during the cultural revolution of the late 1960s.
So, nobody was expecting much from Gladiator three decades later. But it turned out that Crowe was in the middle of a brief but historic hot streak as a leading man (L.A. Confidential, The Insider, Gladiator, Master and Commander, Cinderella Man). So, Gladiator helped return Rome to American masculine consciousness.
For example, the highlight of this year’s World Series was Los Angeles Dodger Freddie Freeman’s last-chance grand slam to beat the New York Yankees in the 10th inning of the first game. Rather than then flinging his bat away contemptuously in the modern style, Freeman instead strode toward first holding his bat skyward in a dignified gesture I instantly recognized, although I haven’t seen the movie in decades, as drawn from the body language of Gladiator.
I only learned later that Freeman had named his son Maximus.
Read the whole thing there.
Good review. But you missed a point from the original plot.
Maximus isn't sold into slavery by Commodus. Maximus escapes an assassination squad sent by Commodus (a great scene) and escapes on horseback, finally collapsing many miles away, where he is picked up and enslaved. Since Maximus is depressed over his family being killed and his betrayal by Rome/Commodus and his hero Marcus Auerlius's death -- not to mention the fact that its now his word against Commodus about what Auerlius offered to Maximus -- Maximus remains in slavery without putting up a fight, morose and death-seeking.
It wouldn't have made sense for Commodus to only sell Maximus into slavery while killing his family. The more logical thing would have been to kill them all, or at least Maximus and then send his wife and child to the salt mines.
Also, at the end, Maximus's death doesn't bring about the return of the Republic. While the anti-Commodus crowd want Maximus to lead a revolt, and Maximus's rise in public gives strength to those who dislike Commodus, Maximus's death at the end is left ambiguous as to its worth and outcome.
"Voted Most Likely To Be Played By Joaquin Phoenix". This is why we need Sword and Sailer movies being made!