We were already warned; the first images of ‘Gladiator 2’ with Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal were more epic than we imagined and pointed to the film of the year, something that we have confirmed with the publication of the long-awaited trailer for the film with which Ridley Scott will return us to classical Rome 24 years after captivating critics, the public, and academics with ‘Gladiator’ (2000).
The first trailer for ‘Gladiator 2’ has captured an audience eager to learn the story of Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), who, captivated by the sacrifice in the arena of Maximus (Russell Crowe) 20 years ago, decides to continue his legacy. The video shows the first ‘Gladiator 2’ trailer.
With Ridley Scott back at the helm and Connie Nielsen reprising her role, the cast is headed by two of the stars of the moment, Paul Mescal (‘Normal People’, ‘Aftersun’) and Pedro Pascal (‘ Game of Thrones ‘,’The Mandalorian ‘,’The Last of Us ‘) in the roles of Lucius and Marcus Acacius, respectively. Alongside them, we will see performers of the stature of Joseph Quinn (Emperor Geta), Fred Hechinger (Emperor Caracalla), Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi (Gracchus), and an imposing Denzel Washington as Emperor Macrinus.
The release date of ‘Gladiator 2’ will be November 15, and, in the meantime, we can enjoy ‘Gladiator’ in the Netflix movie catalog on Prime Video, Filmin, and Movistar Plus+, a title that became the absolute winner of the Oscar night in 2001 by taking home the statuettes for best film, lead actor (Russell Crowe), costumes (Janty Yates), sound (Scott Millan, Bob Beemer, Ken Weston), and visual effects (John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke, Rob Harvey). These awards bolstered the career of a title that, with $460 million raised worldwide, became a major phenomenon of the year (only surpassed at the box office by ‘Mission: Impossible 2’). Also, if you stop ‘Gladiator’ at minute 86, you will see one of the most incomprehensible mistakes in cinema’s history, which is always nice.
Unlike the pejigar disposition with which the exultant ‘Napoleon’ (2023) was received, nobody seemed to care at that time that the story of Maximus Decimus Meridius was as apocryphal as the supposed evil of Commodus. The filmmaker’s staging made us all vibrate in the arena like in the golden age of the peplum, adding the title to a list of essentials among the best films of Ridley Scott, where there were already gems such as ‘Alien, the Eighth Passenger’ (1979), ‘Blade Runner’ (1982), and ‘Thelma & Louise’ (1991). Now that we talk about ‘Gladiator’ as a gem that is on Netflix, was nominated for 12 Oscars, and is one of the most epic and monumental historical adventure films in the history of cinema, its sequel comes when the filmmaker has added to his filmography productions such as ‘Black Hawk Down’ (2001), ‘American Gangster’ (2007), ‘The Martian’ (2015), ‘The Last Duel’ (2021), and ‘Napoleon’ (2023). The expectation, like its hero turned legend, is maximum.
