The world premiere of Gladiator 2 (or Gladiator II) took place in Sydney on October 30, 2024, with the movie set to debut in U.S. theaters on November 22, 2024. The sequel to 2000’s Gladiator, the epic historical action-adventure feature is one of the highly-anticipated movies of the year. The initial response of critics to this Ridley Scott directorial venture is considerably positive, leading to notable Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores.
Gladiator 2 reviews call it a ‘return to form’ for Ridley Scott
Gladiator 2 is being hailed as Scott’s “return to form” as his previous movie, Napoleon (2023), received a disappointing response from the critics. Kelechi Ehenulo of GamesRadar+ observed, “It’s far from his best work, but the return to form by Scott is notable, proving that he still has the cinematic power to visually engage and excite audiences. Are you not entertained? Well, Scott still possesses the magic.”
Entertainment Weekly’s Maureen Lee Lenker wrote, “As with its predecessor, what elevates Gladiator II in the cinematic arena is the ways its themes and dialogue underpin its outrageous spectacle. David Scarpa’s script is also fiercely intelligent.”
According to The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey, Gladiator 2 is “pure camp” at times. “To insist that it shouldn’t be is to hold on too tightly to the dour expectations of the 21st-century blockbuster. It has a modern outlook but provides a throwback, too, to the genre’s florid history,” Loughrey elaborated.
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised the performances of Paul Mescal as Lucius Verus and Denzel Washington as Macrinus and noted, “This is a sequel that isn’t afraid to get its hands dirty – it delivers the keynote scenes and moments for the fanbase (which is all of us) and the all-important gladiator setpieces have the right hallucinatory quality, as a sea-battle is re-enacted in the flooded arena or a vast rhino gets its scaly backside kicked.”
Gladiator 2 starts with solid Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores
Gladiator 2 has accumulated a 76% approval rating on the review aggregating site Rotten Tomatoes after 91 reviews at the time of writing. Further, it scored 67 out of 100 after 32 reviews on Metacritic, which uses a weighted average to rate a movie.
While these are impressive numbers, the real test for Gladiator 2 will be when it releases in theaters for U.S. and overseas audiences.
