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After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.. Elsewhere" to "Stranger Things," check out the TV and movie roles of Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, and more.. In the years following the release of the first film, there were numerous attempts to write a sequel. Musician Nick Cave was invited to draft a version by Russell Crowe and Sir Ridley Scott. His version focused on the more mythical elements of Ancient Rome, and would have seen Maximus arrive in the afterlife, only to be faced with other souls who are yet to ascend further.
He is eventually tasked by Jupiter and other Roman deities to return to earth to find and kill Hephaestus, a former deity who has betrayed them. From there, he is resurrected as a Christian and finds himself journeying back to Rome, on a mission to stop Christianity from spreading, while crossing paths with the new Emperor, Lucius. The movie would have ended with Maximus being cursed to live for an eternity, featuring a montage of the soldier battling through the Crusades, World War II, and the Vietnam War, eventually revealing a modern-day Maximus working at the Pentagon in Washington. The studio decided not to go through with this version, but the script is available to read online.. In Rome the god of the sea was called "Neptune" not "Poseidon"..
A precut M Rated version was released in Cinemas in Australia. 1 – Lucius (Paul Mescal) beheads his opponent at the first Roman games. The beginning is trimmed to remove the swords connecting with the head. It cuts into the shot midway to show the stump and a bit of blood spray. Cut No.
2 – Macrinus (Denzel Washington) slashing at the neck of Emperor Geta (Joseph Quinn). The initial long shot of the neck cutting and blood spray is missing. The following close-up is zoomed to the left to remove the continued neck slashing and blood spray on the right. Cut No. 3 – Macrinus puts a spike into the ear of Emperor Caracalla (Fred Hechinger).
Everyone has seen Denzel Washington praising fellow actors Pedro Pascal and Paul Mescal for their acting – but the reality is there is nothing special – they are actors that acted – their performance did not elevate the film to the glory of the original.Storyline wise the film is a joke – the plot twists are illogical and only work because the characters are forced to change – the first half of the film concentrates on a man's desire for vengence which is overturned by a single line of dialogue.Hollywood is failing – it clearly looks to have been influenced by accountants and MBA muppets that somehow believe the more twists a film contains the more $$ it attracts. Side note: if Rome was so great – why was it always falling apart.
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