GLADIATOR II is Director Ridley Scott’s long-awaited return to Ancient Rome. General Maximus and Lucilla’s son, Lucius, returns to Rome as a gladiator. He’s intent on exacting revenge against the Roman general who killed his wife in a battle in another land. However, the general is now married to his mother and is involved in a plot to overthrow the evil twin emperors now ruling Rome.

GLADIATOR II is an exciting, spectacular, sometimes inspiring adventure. It has some great dramatic twists that propel the movie’s message promoting liberty over tyranny. In the end, the hero rallies the people against the tyranny of the two emperors. The movie also has a Christian character who heals the wounds of the gladiators. He makes a reference to forgiveness and salvation in one scene. However, the movie has lots of strong action violence, including some very bloody scenes. GLADIATOR II is more historical fiction than historical drama. It’s not historically accurate. Also, a male character makes a lewd joke about sometimes having homosexual relations. Finally, there are references to Roman pagan beliefs. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

(BB, PP, ACAC, C, Pa, FR, Ho, L, VVV, S, N, A, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Strong moral worldview supports liberty and general republican virtues against imperial tyranny, plus a Christian character is a former gladiator who has become a physician who binds up the gladiators’ wounds and befriends the hero and speaks about forgiveness and salvation in one scene, with some Roman paganism/hedonism and hero has dreams of his recently dead wife getting on the boat with the ferryman to the afterlife, and the evil twin Roman emperors dress effeminately, and another villain jokes about having been with men as well as women in one scene;

Foul Language:

Two “d” words (one is old-fashioned);

Violence:

Some very strong such as a bloody beheading in the arena, and lots of strong violence such as lots of sword fighting, gladiators fight off a bunch of vicious baboons, Roman armada storms a walled city with lots of war violence, woman shot with an arrow and plunges off wall onto sandy and rocky beach, many people hit with arrows, gladiators fight off another gladiator riding a large charging rhinoceros, gladiators fight a sea battle in the Coliseum, bloody murder, etc.;

Sex:

No sex scenes, but the evil twin Roman emperors dress effeminately, and another villain jokes about having been with men as well as women in one scene (these things seem to reflect the decadence that was Ancient Rome), and two scenes of marital couples kissing;

Nudity:

Some upper male nudity images in battle scenes and gladiator scenes;

Alcohol Use:

Some wine drinking;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Revenge but it’s overcome by forgiveness and sacrifice, gambling on gladiator battles.

GLADIATOR II is Director Ridley Scott’s long-awaited return to Ancient Rome, in a story about General Maximus and Lucilla’s son, Lucius, returning to Rome as a gladiator, intent on exacting revenge against the Roman general who killed his wife in a battle in another land. GLADIATOR II is an exciting, spectacular, sometimes inspiring adventure with some great dramatic twists and a message promoting a libertarian republic over tyranny, but it has some very strong violence and doesn’t strive for total historical accuracy, so extreme caution is advised.

The movie opens with Lucius as a young, high-ranking, married soldier in the North African kingdom of Numidia, the Roman Province which later became the home of St. Augustine. A Roman general named Acasius leads a Roman armada against the capitol city on the shore. The city is no match for the Romans. They soon overrun the city and take Lucius prisoner after Acasius orders an archer during the battle to shoot his wife who was firing arrows from atop the city’s walls.

Lucius is turned into a gladiator, who’s bought by a former gladiator named Macrinus. Macrinus is a clever man who’s ingratiated himself with the Roman elite, including the twin emperors, Geta and Caracalla. Macrinus takes Lucius to fight in the Coliseum in Rome.

Lucius swears revenge against Acasius. He’s determined to find a way to kill the man who killed his wife. His mother, Lucilla, as the daughter of a respected former emperor, is still part of Roman royalty and watches the gladiator battles from the royal box. She recognizes the mannerisms of his father in Lucius, who’s going by his adopted Numidian name. Years ago, Lucilla had sent her son away, to hide him from people in Rome who would like to kill the son of General Maximus, who’s in the line to become Emperor. Now, however, Lucilla also happens to be the wife of General Acacius, the man who Lucius wants to kill.

Lucilla meets secretly with her son. However, Lucius is angry she abandoned him and sent him away. So, he refuses to acknowledge her.

Meanwhile, her husband, General Acacius, is sick of the ruthless war mongering of the twin emperors. He’s actually consorting with other dissidents, who are intent on overthrowing the twin emperors. Lucilla and her friend, Senator Gracchus, secretly support the General’s rebellion.

These conflicts eventually come to a head, leading to an exciting finish.

GLADIATOR II is an exciting, spectacular, sometimes inspiring adventure. It has some great dramatic twists that propel the movie’s message promoting liberty over tyranny. In the end, the hero rallies the people against the tyranny of the two emperors.

That said, some may feel that the intensity of the first movie, which centered on the conflict between Russell Crowe’s heroic general and Joaquin Phoenix’s ruthless Emperor, is lacking. The sequel transfers that intensity to Paul Mescal as the young hero, Pedro Pascal as the General, and Denzel Washington as the ambitious and devious businessman.

Some of GLADIATOR II is historically accurate. However, the movie condenses the history of the twin emperors, including the dates of their deaths, which happened years apart. Also, Lucilla actually died in 182 AD, well before the timeframe of this movie. So, GLADIATOR II is more historical fiction than historical drama.

GLADIATOR II has lots of strong action violence involving battles between armies and gladiators. For example, there’s the big battle in the beginning and gladiator contests involving vicious baboons, a gladiator riding a large rhinoceros, and gladiators on two ships engaged in a sea battle inside the Coliseum. Some of the violence is very strong and bloody, and some of it is tragic when favorite characters die.

Finally, one character in the movie makes a lewd joke about having intimate relations with women and occasionally a man.

So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

Country superstar Carrie Underwood, who was not nominated for any Country Music Assn. Awards this year, still made a surprise appearance at the Nashville ceremony to perform with Cody Johnson.

The “Before He Cheats” hitmaker joined Johnson onstage to perform their romantic duet “I’m Gonna Love You” in front of a cheering audience inside Bridgestone Arena. COJO began the song and Underwood appeared just in time to sing the second verse. Then, about halfway through, Johnson took a moment to introduce her to viewers, saying “Yeah, that’s Carrie Underwood,” to audience cheers.

It was the first time in Underwood’s career that she was shut out of the CMA Awards nominations, and the “American Idol” alum was not listed among the performers ahead of Wednesday’s show. The singer, who hosted the show a dozen times from 2008 to 2019, was also absent from last year’s festivities.

Meanwhile, Johnson’s album “Leather” won the award for album of the year and the Texas singer took the stage during the awards ceremony to express his shock at losing to the night’s big winner, Chris Stapleton.

“Tennessee Whiskey” singer Stapleton, who opened the ABC telecast with a performance of “California Sober” with pop-country crossover star Post Malone, won the most prizes Wednesday night, taking home three awards: song of the year and single of the year for “White Horse” and male vocalist of the year.

The musician was also among the handful of country stars who presented “King of Country” George Strait with the 2024 CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.

Stapleton seemed poised to sweep the awards show but ultimately lost the top prize — entertainer of the year — to Morgan Wallen. The “Man Made a Bar” singer, who was quadruple-nominated for his feature on Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” had been up for seven awards on Wednesday but only won the one. However, he nabbed the CMA Awards’ marquee prize for the first time in his career. With 19 total CMA Awards, Stapleton tied with the duo Brooks & Dunn to become the most-winning CMA acts of all time.

Lainey Wilson, who co-hosted the awards show with Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, was named female vocalist of the year and earned the award for music video of the year for “Wildflowers and Wild Horses.” Old Dominion won the award for vocal group of the year for a record seventh straight time, surpassing the six previous wins that belonged to Little Big Town. “Tennessee Orange” singer Megan Moroney was named new artist of the year.

Published on Nov 21, 2024 12:00 pm IST