The concept of a Gladiator sequel is one that has drifted around Hollywood for over 20 years, and in that time it hasn’t gotten any less ridiculous.
The original Gladiator, Ridley Scott’s tribute to Ancient Rome that singlehandedly revived the sword-and-sandal genre, was a great film, but it also worked as a standalone experience without the need for future entries.
The film followed Maximus (Russell Crowe), a legatus forced into becoming a slave after he is betrayed by Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), a power-hungry emperor responsible for the deaths of Maximus’s wife and child.
After rising through the ranks of the Colosseum’s gladiatorial contests, he defeats Commodus in a one-to-one duel before succumbing to his wounds, satisfied that he has avenged his family’s murder.
It’s an ending that leaves little unresolved, and provides the perfect cap to one of Ridley Scott’s best films.
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