Clocking in at over three minutes, the trailer for Gladiator II has given us a lot to consider, from Paul Mescal’s ripped physique to Joseph Quinn’s full-face of make-up to Denzel Washington refusing to do any type of regionally applicable accent and but nonetheless stealing the present. The primary take a look at the Ridley Scott-directed movie—which is able to arrive 24 years after the unique Russell Crowe-starring Gladiator—is a multi-sensory buffet of masculinity (simply what we want, proper?)
Gladiator II is a sequel, not a reboot, going down roughly 15 years after the primary movie’s occasions. In that movie, Crowe performed hero Maximus, a former Roman normal who was pressured into slavery after his household was murdered by Emperor Marcus Aurelius’s evil failson, Commodus, performed by a supremely creepy Joaquin Phoenix. Maximus turns into a wildly widespread gladiator, finally getting revenge on Commodus. There’s an necessary facet plot about Commodus’s sister, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and her 12-year-old son, Lucius—Paul Mescal’s position in Gladiator II is Lucius, now grown up.
Within the Gladiator II trailer, we study that Lucius has befallen an identical destiny to Maximus, having develop into estranged from his household and compelled into gladiatorial servitude. Denzel Washington serves as his information by way of this murky world as Lucius, too, seeks revenge, this time on “your complete Roman military.” Mescal, who was an avid rugby participant earlier than his breakout efficiency in Hulu’s Regular Individuals, skilled extensively for the position, present process a strict regime of weight loss program and train to placed on muscle to believably inhabit the position of a successful fighter (and to entice audiences all the identical). “I simply needed to be massive and powerful and appear to be any person who could cause a bit of harm when shit hits the fan,” Mescal informed Self-importance Truthful, including, “I believe additionally, generally, one might, in striving for that excellent look, find yourself wanting extra like an underwear mannequin than a warrior.”
Impressed by These About to Die, a 1958 novel by Daniel P. Mannix novel, Gladiator was an enormous hit, successful Greatest Image on the Oscars that yr and scoring the Greatest Actor Academy Award for Crowe. (It additionally helped launch a decade of arena-inspired style, and it looks like we’re just some months away from gladiator sandals popping up on Depop). The returning forged consists of Nielsen as Lucilla and Derek Jacobi as Senator Gracchus. Pedro Pascal performs cutthroat Roman normal Marcus Acacius, and Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger play younger co-emperors Geta and Caracalla.
Gladiator II hits theaters on November 22, the identical day as Depraved: Half One, organising a possible Barbenheimer scenario on the field workplace. A double characteristic isn’t a foul thought, particularly when two blockbusters are on provide.
