Critics are calling Gladiator II a fun but overly familiar sequel

Gladiator II will soon arrive in cinemas, finally bringing Ridley Scott's long-awaited sequel to his 2000 masterpiece to the big screen, and it's getting a mixed response from critics.

The film stars Paul Mescal as Lucius, the illegitimate son of Russell Crowe's Maximus and Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) who was hidden for his safety at the end of the first film. Now a man, Lucius is enslaved by the Roman Empire after General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) defeats the Numidian city in which he lives, and he is bought by Macrinus (Denzel Washington) to enter the arena as a gladiator.

There are a lot of similar beats to the original film to be had, Lucius is enslaved and made a gladiator in much the same way as his father before him, and he vows revenge against the oppressive elite —in this case brother emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). But even with the similarities to the original, critics were impressed by the production which they called an entertaining watch.

The Telegraph's Robbie Collin remarked on how while the sequel "isn’t quite as strong as its predecessor" it is still easily "the year’s most relentlessly entertaining blockbuster".

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"If the original Gladiator was the cinematic equivalent of a six-course meal, think of this one as an exploding buffet table," the critic wrote. "Yet despite its tonal unruliness and extraordinary sweep – Scott’s Constable-like compositional eye is put to good use yet again – it’s a rivetingly lean and energised watch."

Collin remarked that Lucius is "less interesting" than Maximus as a character, but Mescal is "always watchable" regardless of his role.

The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey felt similarly about the actor, saying that Lucius is "not the same charismatic, instant star-maker of a performance as Crowe’s, but Mescal bears the weight of history and the film’s own legacy gracefully."

Loughrey added that audiences are "lucky" to be living in a time when Scott is directing, because for the filmmaker "there are only stories, and the thrills they elicit in his audience", a rare quality in directors of today.

What stood out the most for the critic, though, was Washington's turn as Macrinus: "Washington takes pure, delicious revelry in the spoken word."

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw argued that Washington "almost steals the entire picture" with his gritty performance, but that the film itself is not as strong as its predecessor.

"This sequel is watchable and spectacular," Bradshaw wrote. "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, effectively reincarnating almost every single narrative component of the original in a variant form, the events of the first film echoing in franchise eternity."

Meanwhile, Variety's Owen Gleiberman wasn't as taken with the film, remarking that it "is probably about as good a movie as we could have expected it to be", adding: "The movie is a solid piece of neoclassical popcorn — a serviceable epic of brutal warfare, Colosseum duels featuring lavish decapitations and beasts both animal and human, along with the middlebrow decadence of palace intrigue."

Gleiberman went one step further, adding: "At Gladiator II, are we not entertained? We are. But that’s not necessarily the same as enthralled."

Gladiator II lands in UK cinemas on Friday, 15 November.