Okay, full disclosure; I had very low expectations of this sequel to the much loved Russell Crowe sword and sandals epic that came out almost a quarter of a century ago.

My husband is a bit of a fan of the original Gladiator, and we have fond memories of seeing it in the cinema in our country town (that closed soon afterwards) with our infant daughter sleeping through the whole noisy and bloody onslaught.

It seemed fitting that we would spend Boxing Day this year with friends and family in an almost empty cinema seeing this high budget sequel. It was a late night screening and so would have to be good to keep my husband awake (it mostly did).

It is set some years after the original, and has more connections to it than I expected. The hero this time is young, scrappy Lucius (Paul Mescal) who is living in a North African community as it is raided by a Roman fleet led by General Acacius (Pedro Pascal). He is captured and taken to Rome and is, of course, then hell bent on taking revenge on the General. 

The idyllic and democratic Rome that Marcus Aurelius of Gladiator dreamt of has not come to pass. Like our modern leadership, democracy falls apart when you have leaders who get drunk on their own power. There are two emperors, Emperor Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Emperor Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) and they are deranged dilettantes (their pale effeminacy perpetuating harmful gender tropes). This means that the gladiator combats that we know Lucius is destined for are particularly bloody and cruel. The other key player is Macrinus (Denzel Washington), the slave and gladiator owner who has ambitions of power and wealth of his own.

Overall, the pace is good, the acting convincing, and although we have some idea of who might live and who might die by the end, it is an entertaining ride until we get there. There are some aspects that feel a bit ridiculous – killer baboons that look like Hunger Games mutts, gladiators riding rhinos and the spectacular sharks in the Colosseum that brought the phrase ‘jumping the shark’ to mind – and many of the characters feel like caricatures without much depth but that is perhaps what we should be expecting from such a high budget spectacle.

The most fully formed characters are that of Lucius and Macrinus, with the latter being an actual person who did become emperor. Poor Pedro Pascal is not given much to work with, but does look sensational in his gold armour.

I want to talk about the role of women in the film. There are some spoilers here so if that worries you, stop reading until you have seen the film.

There are only two significant female characters in the film. Arashat (Yuvel Gonen) is the wife of Lucius and dies in the opening battle scene when Lucius is subsequently captured. This fuels his hate fire for Acacius. A catalyst character with a name but no purpose other than to give impetus to action. 

The other female character is given much more screen time and is the key connection between the first film and this one. Connie Nielsen again plays Lucilla, the sister of previous despotic emperor Commodus and now the wife of Acacius. Another wife. She’s also a mother and ultimately represents sacrifice. 

It of course fails the Bechdel Test, something I find particularly deplorable in a film that has so many characters and is set within communities of people. 

Should this be an issue in a film that is so obviously perverting history for modern day spectacle and entertainment? It will be something probably not noticed by most who see it or felt to be the norm or justified by the many fan boys. It just made me sigh.