Who would have thought the wan follow-up to one of the least memorable and silliest Oscar winners of the 21st century directed by one of the most overrated studio shills of our lifetimes would feel like impersonal, rehashed, lukewarm réchauffé and leave Oscar prognosticators wondering what went wrong? Who could have seen this coming from the director of awards also-rans All the Money in the World, Kingdom of Heaven, House of Gucci, and Napoleon? Let’s hope that the world doesn’t stop wanting to honor this paragon of mindlessness so we can keep getting annual Oscar conversations around middling, overbudgeted never-camp-enough schlock. To the irascible filmmaker’s credit, he seems barely interested himself, so maybe we can follow his noble lead.
— Michael Koresky (Reverse Shot)
Synopsis: Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.