Gladiator II, the long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, finally arrived in theaters Nov. 22. This film did not disappoint when it came to telling a story of the new Roman generation and the state of transition the empire was facing after the original film. 

The movie takes place two decades after the original film. It follows the story of the main character, Lucius, played by Paul Mescal, who is struggling through the new war that erupted after the actions that took place at the end of the first movie and how he becomes a new gladiator. After becoming a gladiator, Lucius decides that he needs to take action to win back Rome from the new rulers who are causing more problems for Rome and the people. 

As someone who has grown up watching a lot of historical fiction movies, this film was a great thing to look forward to. I like how they kind of kept the same storyline with how Lucius became a gladiator and the games that he had to do to survive, similar to Maximus in the first movie. The unique quality that the movie had, compared to the first one, was that we were introduced to more characters and even some from the original movie. This movie had many plot twists, which I loved because it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire movie.

The movie was definitely more gory than the first one, so if you have a weak stomach or you don’t like bloody movies I would not recommend watching this movie. And finally, I loved the actors that played the new characters like Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn and Pedro Pascal. All of these actors played their character so well and added so much to the storyline of the movie. 

Overall, I think the movie was a good addition to Gladiator, but I think this should be the last movie they make for this franchise.