Paul Mescal impresses in Ridley Scott’s riveting sequel

Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II opens in much the same way as the first: with the unleashing of hell. This time, however, our hero Lucius (Paul Mescal), the illegitimate son of Russell Crowe’s Maximus, is not the one to let loose. He is a humble farmer – cue a hands-through-wheat shot, although this time the grain has been harvested – and also a conscript in the Numidian army, which musters on the walls of one of the North African province’s fortified ports. Why? Because the Roman army, led by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), has a phalanx of galleons on its way.

The Mediterranean sun beats down on both sides – and is soon joined by showers of arrows and flaming projectiles arcing through the air like flaming Christmas puddings. As the battle meets, one poor unfortunate is shot to the frame of his own trebuchet by a bolt from a rival ballista. It is Scott who sets the eerie tone – but also sends the viewer a message. For the next two and a half hours, mate, your attention is going nowhere.

It should be said right away that Scott’s long-awaited real-time sequel – set and released 20-some years after his Oscar-winning original – isn’t quite as strong as its predecessor. But it’s worth saying straight away that Gladiator II remains the year’s most relentlessly entertaining blockbuster: a Roman epic that can’t resist Roman everywhere. The film zig-zags crazily from streaky comedy to sweeping action, then shuddering melodrama, with servants slipping in and out of the shadows.

If the original Gladiator was the cinematic equivalent of a six-course meal, think of this one as an exploding buffet table. Despite its tonal unruliness and extraordinary sweep – Scott’s Constable-like compositional eye is once again put to good use – it’s a rivetingly lean and energetic watch. Mescal’s Lucius wants revenge on Rome, the city that killed his father, exiled him as a child, murdered his friends and roommate… a long list.