Gladiator I vs Gladiator II
In my opinion, both movies were very good. My eyes were glued to the screen for the entire duration of both films. The plots of the two movies were quite similar: a man wants to restore the glory of Rome under the rule of a cruel tyrant and his loved ones were unfairly slaughtered.
There weren’t too many returning faces since this duology loves to kill off most characters. Of course, both Lucilla and Lucius both came back for the sequel. It is also confirmed that Maximus is indeed Lucius’ father (shocker). The new characters, like the two emperors, were also very interesting. Emperors Caracalla and Geta were clearly physically and mentally sick, same as Emperor Commodus from the previous movie. Another character worth mentioning is Dondas, the absolutely adorable pet monkey of Emperor Caracalla.
The main similarity between both movies was the amount of deaths. So many characters died. In the first movie, it was Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Maximus, and Maximus’ family. In the second movie, it was Caracalla, Geta, Macrinus, Arishat, and Acacius. Not to mention the tons of gladiators that perished. There was a lot of bloodshed, but since this was an action movie, that was expected.
Macrinus
Something about Macrinus’ character really resonated with me. He somewhat reminds me of Peeta from the Hunger Games as they both know how to successfully play politics. Macrinus craved vengeance after his enslavement by Marcus Aurelius. He rose to power and used his connections and wealth to get General Acacius killed and to kill Emperors Caracalla and Geta himself. Before he even killed them, he was able to convince Caracalla that Geta was out to get him and then used Caracalla’s sickness to control him. He also made strategically placed bets on the gladiators and bought the loyalty of Senator Thraex. His meticulous plans, however, were thwarted by our protagonist. Still, he may have been evil, but I admire his cunningness and ambition.
Reality vs Fiction
Gladiator I and Gladiator II were definitely very fictional. While most of the characters in these movies did exist in history, the main events that happened in these movies did not.
Marcus Aurelius was actually a very philosophical man. Marcus Aurelius was the father of Lucilla and Commodus, but Lucius Verus was not his grandson. He was his adoptive brother and they ruled together for a brief period of time until Lucius’ death in 169 CE. Marcus also wrote a book called Meditations which is considered one of the greatest works of philosophy.
Lucilla did, however, have a son named Lucius Aurelius Verus, presumably with Lucius Verus who was her first husband (yuck). Lucilla’s character also did some of the same things that she did in the movie. In real life she did attempt to plot her brother’s demise, but she got much farther than she did in the movie. Commodus’ character was portrayed very accurately as he was egotistical, cruel, violent, and unstable in real life as well. However, there is no historical evidence suggesting that Commodus had an incestuous affection towards his sister.
Emperors Caracalla and Geta’s strained relationship was also portrayed accurately. While the movie tweaked a few details for the plot, they generally got their personalities and deaths correct. Macrinus was also a real historical figure in Roman history, while Acacius was a made up character in this series. Historically, Macrinus did assassinate Emperor Caracalla, but he got farther than he did in the movie and managed to briefly reign from 217 to 218 CE.
Overall Opinion
Overall, the movie was pretty good. There was the amount of bloodshed that you would expect, especially after seeing the first movie. A lot of the time sequels will come out even when they don’t need to, but this movie had the perfect amount of closure after the first movie.