Come for Mescal in a skirt; stay for the grisly fighting! Gladiator 2 is even more violent than its predecessor, and you need to be ready for the gore.
If you’re going to watch a film about men fighting to the death in ancient times, there will likely be a lot of violence. If you didn’t anticipate that, I gently suggest you revisit the original movie.
Director Ridley Scott has made it clear he absolutely doesn’t care about historical accuracy, but his commitment to bloodshed has only intensified 20-odd years down the line.
But do you need to look away? Do you need a sick bag? Do you see a tiny monkey in a toga watching it all in the wings? Behold, Gladiator 2’s goriest moments in all their glory. Warning, spoilers ahead.
Lucius bites a monkey
When Lucius starts to find his feet as a gladiator, he really throws caution to the wind. His first challenge under Macrinus’ thumb is being thrust into a mini-Colosseum full of CGI apes. The goal? Survive.
We watch other gladiators who want no part in what they’ve been signed up for, laying down to be ravaged by the monkeys and die. Of course, this isn’t the case for our hero. While his fellow men lay into the beasts with swords, Lucius opts for something a little more hands-on.
Or should I say… a little more mouths-on. Before the monkeys can pull off an impromptu Planet of the Apes remake, Lucius bites the neck of the monkey attacking him, killing it instantly. He looks up at the crowd covered in blood, and everybody is in shock.
Sure, it earns him some playground-style monkey chants from the other gladiators back at base, but it’s the first moment where Macrinus, the crowds, and the other soldiers actually fear him. Even if they don’t admit it, we see exactly what Maximus’ son might actually be capable of.
I must stress here for the RSPCA fretters among us – none of these monkeys were actually real, let alone died for the sake of a Ridley Scott sequel. However, it’s the first squint-and-look-away scene of many, and you can’t unhear the weird noises our pretend ape makes on the way out.
Decapitation in the Colosseum
By this point in the new movie, Macrinus is really starting to sink his claws into Lucius, using his blossoming talents as a pawn for his ascent to the throne.
After bringing him to a private party to kill a gladiator for the Emperors’ entertainment, Lucius hits the Colosseum for the first time. Together with a team of other soldiers, they must take on an undefeated rival who makes his entrance on a rhino.
Standard stuff, then! With some quick-thinking strategy, Lucius has the rhino riderless and wandering around like an awkward teenager at a party. This means our unnamed foe is officially prey – and boy, does he meet his maker.
Cue epic and suitably bloody action from Lucius and all the enslaved lads we’re rooting for, which builds to the big moment. Using both his own sword and that of the rhino rider, he deftly swings them about to form the perfect X… right over the poor guy’s head.
Unlike the scene originally teased in the trailer, we don’t cut to black as the sword makes contact with his neck. Instead, we see the entire decapitation alongside the immediate reaction from onlookers. The crowd is thrilled as his head rolls to the floor like a bowling ball (all except for Lucilla, who’s playing it as straight as Michael Caine in A Muppets Christmas Carol).
Again, it’s a scene where you want to time the consumption of your cinema snacks carefully. Ridley is known for making action movies on an epic level, and this means he never scrimps on his violence. But even by his standards, watching a man’s head come off is tough to watch.
You probably didn’t catch the guy’s name, but you definitely caught his innards.
The death of Acacius
Time for our first real spoiler of the piece – Marcus Acacius, the gorgeous Pedro Pascal, dies about halfway through the movie. Following in the footsteps of Commodus, Geta, and Caracalla make Acacius and Lucius fight each other after they learn of his and Lucilla’s attempts to overthrow them.
By this point, Acacius has learned about Lucius’ past through Lucilla, yet it’s not until they start fighting that Lucius realizes he’s on his side. Up until now, Lucius has been convinced that he must kill Acacius, as he was responsible for burning Numidia to the ground (and killing his wife in the process… oops).
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But no! Acacius is merely a tool of the system, trying his best to hold out against cruelty, dammit! This message is somehow conveyed silently amidst their dance of the swords, leading Lucius to go against Geta’s command to kill in the final moments.
Instead, both men throw their weapons to the side and kneel as a sign of defeat and conscientious objection. But that’s not going to satisfy a ruler hungry for violence, is it? No! At Geta’s word, Lucius is spared while Acacius is peppered with arrows by the guards.
In no time at all, he resembles an armored porcupine, left to die while the crowds begin to turn on Geta. He’s just killed the man the people love, after all! What’s worse is Lucilla’s punishment – she’s forced to watch either her son or husband be killed as her penance for being involved.
If you don’t like your gore with a side of heartbreak, you’re probably going to struggle through this scene. RIP, Acacius – daddy of the internet duly turned daddy of Rome.
Geta’s severed head
Of course, it’s not too long before Geta gets his karma. Macrinus has been toiling away in the background while all this bloodshed fronts the movie, turning the higher-ups against each other. Most notably, this means convincing the impressionable Caracalla to kill Geta – Rome is looking for someone to blame for the unrest, after all.
In a particularly weak moment, Macrinus gets what he wants, but it’s not actually Geta’s death that’s the most disturbing. The next morning, his severed head is brought to the Senate as a means for Macrinus to establish his power… through Caracalla, of course.
While Macrinus waxes lyrical about the next steps for Rome, poor Derek Jacobi et al. have to look at the deteriorating head decorating a pillar like it’s a prized heirloom. It’s sinister foreshadowing of where the film is heading, but also downright gross.
Whether it’s Macrinus flamboyantly producing the head from a bag or the fact it’s got the longest screentime, you’re not going to forget this scene in a hurry – even in the midst of all the fighting. To make things even more bizarre, this is the same moment we watch Caracalla name Dondas as his First Council.
To remind you all, Dondas is a monkey.
The final massacre
By the final 20 minutes, sh*t has really hit the fan in ancient Rome. It’s Lucius vs. Macrinus, and there can only be one winner.
In the name of establishing absolute power, Lucilla has been used as bait in the Colosseum, with defected members of the Senate (such as Gracchus) left to defend her. Of course, Macrinus’ minions are on their way to kill them all, but Lucius plans to rally the other gladiators to save the day.
It’s a plan that shouldn’t work, given they’re all locked up, but he pulls it off. The army loyal to Acacius – and Maximus by association – learns Lucius is in trouble, but they’re too far out of town to be of help immediately.
Lucius and his gladiators get to Macrinus’ lot first, and it’s all out bloodshed from there. Echoing the first film, basically, everybody dies… and they don’t just die quietly, they are viscerally murdered in excruciating detail. Lucius is left sobbing over a dead Lucilla in the middle of a quiet arena, and it’s sobering stuff.
But where is everyone else, I hear you ask? Dead! That, or they’re en route to meet Acacius’ army outside the walls of Rome. Macrinus is obviously nowhere to be seen, but by the time his army meets Acacius’, it’s him against Lucius.
Cut to an incredibly dramatic mano a mano in a nearby stream, where Macrinus not only drowns, but he gets his hand cut off in the process. Ouch. That feels small fry compared to what we’ve already seen, but it’s a fitting (and puke-worthy) final hurrah for Ridley’s house of visual horrors.
Gladiator 2 comes to cinemas on November 15 in the UK and November 22 in the US. Catch up with our character guide, why the sequel is getting hated on, and when it takes place.
You can also check out more new movies streaming this month.
