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Gladiator II Review
My thoughts as a writer and audience member
I have written a novel set in ancient Rome. It will be released in the coming months. I suppose it would have been ideal to publish it just before Gladiator II came out, but it is still going through the editing process. I was not optimistic about the movie, but I felt I had to see it so I would know what people were talking about. The first movie did not feel like it needed a sequel. But as a director, Ridley Scott usually gets what he wants, so here we are. Here are my thoughts as a writer and audience member.
SPOILERS AHEAD
First, a word about sequels in general. The story in a sequel should be a natural progression from the original, not a carbon copy with different names. Some that did this successfully were Terminator 2, Aliens, and Godfather 2. Gladiator 2 copied about 80% of the original. Lucius’s character arc is nearly identical to Maximus’s. The protagonist is a general who after defeat ends up being sold to a lanista (head of a gladiator troupe). His wife is killed, and he wants revenge. His path to revenge goes through the arena in Rome. The lanista coaches him on how to win his freedom — and revenge. And there is a plot to kill the emperor (emperors in this case) and claim the city with troops who are still loyal to the general. That plot (organized by Lucilla and a few…
