It was always going to be a hard ask for blockbuster director Ridley Scott to make a sequel to his Oscar-winning epic Gladiator.

Starring Russell Crowe, it collected 60 wins and 104 nominations around the globe including a best picture and best actor Oscar for the Australian’s performance as Hispano-Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius.

Its chilling Hans Zimmer score and a storyline so heart wrenching, passionate and blood-thirsty fierce confirmed its place in Hollywood history as one of the all-time greats.

“Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next,” Crowe screamed in one iconic scene to Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) inside the Colosseum, after famously asking the crowd “were they not entertained?” by his bloody fight scenes.

Two decades later, when news of a sequel was on the drawing board, Crowe fact-checked one burning question, he’s not in the movie: “I’m dead … I’m six feet under”.

But there is no doubt the ghost of Russell Crowe’s Maximus looms large at poignant moments in the movie.

The next life

It comes in the next life with Irish actor Paul Mescal, who we now know plays Maximus’ son, Lucius Verus, all grown up after his mother Lucilla (played by Connie Nielsen, reprising her role) sends him to North Africa away from the treachery and harm of Rome.

He’s enslaved, bought by an opportunistic gladiator collector and power broker Macrinus (Denzel Washington) and ends back on centre court at the Colosseum in Rome, playing in an open-air CGI fight club in front of pathetic Caligula-esque twin emperors, Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger).

Up until now, the narrative runs parallel to the original with big-budget opening battle scenes, family tragedy and a muscled-up Lucius working his way towards freedom and revenge.

He battles inbred crazed baboons (he actually bites one), a rhinoceros and steers a mock-up war ship in battle on a water-filled arena with man-eating sharks lurking below (thanks to Nero’s Aqua Claudia aqueduct, the Colosseum could fill to a certain depth, but as for sharks in Rome … well).

Then, at the halfway point of the two hour 30 minute movie, Scott deviates.

Plot deviation

With Lucilla realising her son is alive (he picks up sand to cloud a charging animal, just like Maximus did), she visits him in the underground holding pens of an actual-size Colosseum (built in Malta), and reveals his heritage, who his famous father was, what he did and how brave he was.

It was always unavoidable.

From the opening sequence of a delicate water-colour drawing of Crowe, to a memory clip from 2000 of him to Lucius, who is shown his father’s chest plate and sword in a tomb for fallen gladiator heroes, Scott honours Crowe’s legacy in a profound way.

Paul Mescal plays Lucius and Peter Mensah plays Jugurtha. Photo: Paramount Pictures

Casting Mescal, 28, was a masterstroke – relatively unknown, stocky with soft curly brown hair, pointed nose, broody and slightly cheeky.

But having performed in gentler projects including Normal People and Aftersun, he still has big shoes to fill in his debut mega film.

He brings a nuanced, less-dominant performance but has his own presence on camera alongside Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us), Matt Lucas and Washington (who could be the standout here, and overshadow the whole lot).

Crowe’s career skyrocketed after Gladiator, generating top prizes and a global box office of $US465 million off a budget of $US103 million.

Rave reviews

The next-generation fanbase will still be itching to get their eyes on scene-stealing special effects, blood-thirsty antics, decapitations, lavish sets and one very masterful horseback chase.

Others, who lament the original as a masterpiece, may take some convincing.

Gladiator II has debuted with a Rotten Tomatoes score higher than the original with an 84 per cent approval rate generated from 42 critical reviews in the first 24 hours (the original clocked a 79 per cent approval) after a review embargo lifted on November 12.

“Scott has lost none of his flair for grandeur, but ultimately [the film] is diminished by a nagging recognition that this material felt fresher in the first film – and that Denzel Washington’s devilish schemer steals the picture from Mescal,” writes Screen Daily.

The Guardian says it’s “watchable and spectacular” and while
Scott is “galloping back over old ground … there is something awe-inspiring in seeing … Mescal’s triumphal march into the A-list”.

And this from Empire: “This one feels less concerned with its own epic-ness and a tad more proudly baroque. There’s a fearlessness to its big swings that has to be applauded”.

“It’s Ridley Scott unleashed, and we’re here for it.”

Gladiator II opens in cinemas nationally on November 13