The Main Plot in Gladiator II ?

Main Plot in Gladiator

Gladiator 2 it has just dropped I’ve seen it a few times it’s very exciting I cannot wait to go and see it in the cinema there have been some interesting comments about it and the team put you can’t see it’s just behind the camera over there they’ve put a picture of Ry Scott staring down at me

almost judging me but look I’m might point out some historical inaccuracies with the trailer but hey it’s an Epic movie I’m here to explain the historical context behind the movie and then if you want to learn more you can go and learn more but this is meant to entertain why you not entertained are you not entertained and I can’t wait to get into it well let’s get going here we go 3 minute trailer I love [Applause] it St now I remember that day there he is main character lucious grown up flashbacks of gladiator 1 a slave could

Here is a table summarizing the main plot of “Gladiator II”:

Plot Element	Description
Setting	Ancient Rome, following the events of the first film
Protagonist	Lucius, the son of Lucilla, who is now grown up and influenced by the legacy of Maximus
Conflict	Political turmoil and power struggles in Rome
Inciting Incident	Lucius is drawn into the arena and political machinations following the death of Emperor Commodus
Rising Action	Lucius navigates the dangerous world of Roman politics and the gladiatorial games
Climax	A major battle or confrontation that determines the future of Rome
Resolution	The resolution of Lucius’s journey, potentially involving the restoration of order in Rome
Themes	Legacy, power, revenge, and redemption

The details might change as the film progresses through production and more information is released.

Story Line of Gladiator II

take revenge against an emperor end of gladiator 1 I don’t know Connie neelon reprising her role father that’s interesting that scene there I mean that immediately suggests North Africa which I think is a key part of the plot but I just noticed was quite interesting in the background you see those mud structures with wooden stakes and was protruding from it and that makes me think of I think it’s more like medieval architecture that you see in places like bino Faso and Marley I’m I think like the tomb of Asia for instance

Continue The Full Back Story of Gladiator II

I don’t know if that was the type of architecture that was in North Africa the time of the Romans however I guess it’s part of the set design and it very much suggests that this part of the film when Lucius is growing up he’s in North Africa Roman North Africa so probably a place like New Media Algeria today you will be my instrument ah there’s Den Wasington it will be my instrument interesting did you hear that cloud that’s interesting there I’m going to pause it once again because first of

all four horse Chariot very much seems like a Triumph portrayal you’ve got Rome but what I thought was really interesting here is kind of a contrast to Gladiator 1 do you remember that scene in Gladiator 1 where you have the Triumph of Commodus and he’s entering into Rome but it’s very dark um it’s very dictatorial in its Vibe I think there’s a influence of Nazi Germany that the um Scot and the team wanted really to evoke in Gladiator 1 but here it’s bright and sunny which is quite an

(02:40) interesting contrast between the first and the second first of all the greatest Temple but you’ve got to have a Triumph scene okay because this is what they sling the Coliseum power a naval Bassel okay so let’s delve into that scene this is really interesting so it is showing the Coliseum being filled with water and a naval reenactment taking place so the history behind that is there were ancient spectacles in Rome where venues were filled with water great basins filled up with water and Naval reenactments did happen they were

What country is Gladiator based on?

the Roman Empire

(03:19) called now Maia so yes there is historical basis for Naval battles being shown in the great public arena in Rome and there are a couple of cases is early on of this event happening in the Coliseum the issue here if I want to be a little bit nitpicky I mean it is still great it looks amazing I can’t wait to see it on screen the first time I think I’ve ever seen a el Maia on screen is that by the time that this is set in the early 3rd Century ad uh NAIA weren’t taking place in the Coliseum anymore the

(03:52) examples that we have come from the first century and actually those Naval reenactments they were with smaller ships as well because of the size of the Coliseum they did happen later on but in a different venue nearer the Tyber what’s also interesting here which I love is the fact that if you look closely if you look at the details of this trailer you will notice and kind of stop on split seconds you’ll notice that there are sharks in the water now I don’t think that the ancient Roman alakia also kind

(04:23) of had these Marine beasts in the water when they were fighting so that you know if you fell overboard You’ be eaten by sharks but once again that’s just kind of going a bit over the top that’s Hollywood that’s the Epic movie Vibe that’s quite cool that they got um sharks in the water too the purpose of naaka historically I think it really was just to show the power and the might of Rome to show that they could do something like that that they had the ability they had the engineering to create such a spectacle and one of the

Will Maximus be in Gladiator 2?

(04:52) underlying themes of gladiator 1 that I think made it such a success and hopefully will be the same for Gladiator 2 was that yes it goes over the top with these spectacles but it really emphasizes how much of a spectacle these would have been for the tens of thousands of people who went to a venue like the Coliseum and watch something like this one last point on that now Makia you’ll also notice a scene where it looks like an Archer on one of the ships who has a Greek Corinthian helmet on and this is a fun little fact I believe one of the

The Main Plot in Gladiator II ?

(05:24) historical nmia that we hear about at the Coliseum was the reenactment of an actual naval battle was between two Greek city states uh the beginning of the pelian war hundreds of years before this event what the Romans would have considered ancient history so maybe having a Greek helmet in there is a nod to that historical reenactment but however I’m probably going a bit far on that presumption but anyway let’s keep

going there’s Cara caller and G I’ll talk a bit more about them in a little bit actually I’ll talk about them right
(05:55) here so here you have two very interesting characters seem to be important figures in the whole plot of Gladiator 2 and these are the two young Emperors carala and Gita so let’s talk about who they are first before how they are being portrayed right here so carala and gaita they’re ruling together here it seems and that would suggest historically only one year in history that this Gladiator to this sequel is set which is 211 ad because the historical carala and gaita as co-emperors as brothers occurred in

(06:32) that year following the death of their father Septimus Severus in York in February 21 ad the reason I say that they’re only copras for one year because by the end of that year one of them is dead and the figure who’s dead is the younger brother GA now they do not have very good records of them surviving the sources surviving sources are not kind to caracal and GA particularly caracella and one of the reasons for that is because carala is the one who kills his brother he kills his brother it’s fra

(07:05) asde he murders GA what’s interesting in how they’re portrayed here is that it’s quite different to how they’re depicted in the surviving historical sources particularly a man called Dio lots of great sources surrounding them Dio carala the Alexander the Great absolute lover absolutely Alexander Mania basically takes it to a whole another level he’s definitely seen is kind of quite deranged he’s later labeled as the common enemy of mankind but what’s interesting how they’re portrayed here

(07:35) they’re not quite portrayed like that they’re quite portrayed like a Caligula or Nero or an elagabalus figure like the golden armor is there really is kind of a Hollywood Trope to depict a bad Emperor someone very obsessed with their own power and their wealth and that very much seems to be reflected in how the actors are portraying these brothers here what’s also quite interesting is actually I didn’t realize this until reading a couple of comments about this last night the taller figure who I would

(08:06) have presumed would have been carala the elder brother is actually G and the younger figure the smaller figure who looks a bit more of a baby is carala which is a complete switch of what it was historically carala was the Elder gaita was the younger supposedly more innocent of the two but uh definitely not portrayed there but that that’s the history and then this is how they’re portrayed too interesting Rome has so many subjects oh naval battle they can eat more Pedro Pascal seems to be an important general for the

(08:38) Romans for [Applause] them so I mean I’m very much looking forward to a naval battle was also being shown on screen must admit this is probably not how Naval battles occurred in ancient history usually if you were attacking a settlement by sea you would storm a place like the harbor you wouldn’t go straight for the walls on the front it looks like they’re ramming their ships into the walls interesting that it looks like a few of them also got Siege Towers on them there are examples of ships having Siege Towers on

(09:05) them but probably not as they’re being portrayed right there my mind instantly goes to a few hundred years before the events of Gladiator 2 when you have one of the great successes of Alexander the Great a man called Demetrius he besieges a city called roads in this epic Siege it should be made a movie out of it this great Siege of roads which lasts more than a year and Demetrius in this attempts to take the city he kind of straps two barges together and he creates a large wood Wen and elevated platform they can shoot down on the

Is Gladiator Rome or Greece?

(09:33) walls of the settlement but so yes there are inaccuracies in how this Naval assault is being portrayed but it is interesting nonetheless and also you’ve got catapults and ships that we know they did have catapults and ships so that is also very cool to see turn slaves into Gladiators so this is Rome gladiators into free men mcal has fall into slavery you probably was fighting against the Romans in that battle and here it was quite interesting just pause it very quickly because it looks like you’ve got provincial Amphitheater which

(10:01) is good to see we saw that in Gladiator 1 in North Africa it looks like they’re Reviving that there and it also emphasizes a key point that Gladiators didn’t just fight in the Coliseum the Coliseum was the biggest Arena of them all but they exported gladiatorial combat to all parts of the Roman Empire from Beyond hadren wall actually yeah there is an Amphitheater discovered north of hren wall two places such as in the near East in the ancient region of Syria so gladiatorial combat was exposed across the entire Empire as is shown

(10:32) here from the start the r and wages to be a rower rowers W slaves largely W slaves in GRE or Roman times interesting also to highlight quick he’s kind of very much reenacting Maximus running out of the pit ah okay um right yes sadly we do not have any records for the Rhino riding Gladiator the Rhino maos because I’m afraid they they did not exist um there are many different classes of gladiator but this is this is definitely um I think this is something that a comment that I read that apparently Ridley Scott wants in the

(11:14) original to to see a gladiator emerging into the Coliseum riding a rhino no historical evidence for this absolutely would never have happened because the mixing of great beasts with Gladiators that we also see in the first movie with the time when Maximus is fighting the the retired ghoul um that that didn’t happen they were very much different events the historical evidence behind this let’s say with the Rhinos is that yes we do know that rhinos were in the Coliseum I believe and the the Romans did know of

(11:48) rhinos and we do know that they imported that they fed across what they considered exotic animals like tigers elephants rhinos to be put on show in the Coliseum for or the other big event alongside Gladiators which were the Beast hunts which occurred usually in the morning of a great event at the Coliseum so the site of a rhino that is there is evidence for that in the Roman Empire probably in the Coliseum the sight of a gladiator being specially trained to ride a rhino I’m afraid that is a bit too far there Connie neelson

(12:24) reprising her role as Lucilla once again Lucilla in uh in truth was actually long DEA by this [Applause] point ah yes the throw dust in front of a rhino Troke whose head could I give you that would satisfy this Fury the entire mcus Den Washington’s character seems definitely seems to be putting on a um kind of a proximo Vibe once again looking after developing a relationship with Lucius which is which is interesting but I think there’s a bit more to it what you also see here is interesting is that you see um you see

(12:59) Lucius with a crossbow and crossbows were a thing in Roman times you have a very ancient type of crossbow called the belly bow which is invented several centuries earlier by the ancient Greeks I believe it’s Syracuse and Tyrant on the island of Sicily who’s the first to invent this this belly bow called the gastraphetes and by the later Roman period you do have these very sophisticated crossbows that they are using you play them in Rome 2 Toto war and totto War ratilla which I very much enjoy getting crossbow units anyway

(13:28) that’s another story General will do there’s going to be a conflict between um Pedro Pascal and Lucius was cool so that’s interesting so this is the development of mcus his character so he is more than it seems than just of proximo he’s talking about him seizing power in Rome and this talks a little bit there’s a very loose historical basis for his character which is the historical figure of mcus mcus was the figure who came to the throne after caraca and he oversaw the assassination of carala several years into caracalla’s

(14:07) Reign when actually caracal was out fighting in the east in ancient Syria Mesopotamia way he has him killed whilst he’s literally taking a piss so literally with his pants down which is quite interesting but mcus is based on a future Roman Emperor and he was of numidian Heritage he did hailed from North Africa so that is Loosely who it seems that the figur denzo Washington uh is playing is based on making interesting deals with the Senate which is quite cool because it’d be good to see how the Senate are depicted in this

(14:42) movie that’s an interesting that’s an interesting weapon right there you see one of the figures that Pascal is fighting many of them have swords I think three of them has swords but one of them has it almost looks like a saof Roman Javelin called Ain um I don’t know of any evidence for saof Roman javelins just at the head of it it does certainly seem like a madeup weapon however what I will try and give as benefit of the doubt is that in Roman gladiatorial combat which of course this is very much

(15:10) Hollywood ified but in gladiatorial combat they created special weapons for special types of Gladiators to add more to the whole spectacle of it so seeing someone with this bizarre kind of soroff Javelin spear fighting someone else and using it two-handed like it’s being shown here um you know it could have been something that they added to the spectacle so no historical basis to it that I’m aware of however I think it does reinforce that more solid point that you know this was supposed to be something that thousands of people will

(15:42) be looking upon and cheering and enjoying this ring belonged to Maximus references to Maximus the armor of Maximus there’s no historical precedent for it absolutely it’s completely Hollywood armor but it is still cool so I think it will be very much interesting to see Lucius wearing that mcus seems to have a big army outside the de Gates of Rome thumbs down yeah bit more of a debate now whether thumbs down meant executes or actually some now argue that actually have thumbs up by the emperor was more likely a sign of kill the

(16:18) person Gladiators weren’t always killed either they actually the the rate of Gladiators dying in the arena was pretty low however Gladiators would have to fight in the arena many many times over their career so when you add that all up actually the chances of the Gladiator dying were still quite High um and one other point I’ll point out from that kind of great collage of scenes was a bit more what I mentioned earlier about the Senators the Senators is an interesting part here of course in the first movie

(16:44) we had graus Senator graus a big figure I would be interested to see if there is a particular senator who is seen at the Forefront of helping mcus here because for this period there is a very prominent senator who is actually one of our main historical sources for the lives of carala ke mcus this whole period in Roman history the San period early 3rd Century ad and his name is casus dio his writings I mean read Dio if you want to know more about what actually happens during this period what carala was actually like G was actually
(17:18) like and his father and his mother the whole family were like and so on and just life in Rome at that time but it would be cool if one of the Senators shown and talked about and has a key role in this film is

Who is Maximus Decimus Meridius based on?

called casassus as a kind of a reference to the historian and Senator cassus St I think in my nerdy ways that’d be very very cool strength and honor strength and honor this our creat R treats Heroes of Interest H the big fight Lucius versus um that key Roman general played by Pedro Pascal oh God um well I think that very much
(18:02) portrays how they want to portray the Cara and GA but as mentioned this is gaita it’s not carala apparently but interesting it just depicts one of the Emperors at this time earlier on in the trailer it depicted the two brothers side by side here at the end it’s just one which might hint at a pretty horrific fate for the other one over the course of the movie which of course has the precedent has the basis of caracal murdering G but well he just looks absolutely crazed absolutely megalomaniac obsessed with power

(18:38) absolute Tyrant a kind of Commodus esque villain for the second movie kind of a classic Hollywood depiction of a bad [Applause] Emperor fighting at the end with that big javelin weapon too wow uh quite a trailer I’m MIT for an Epic movie I cannot wait to go and see this this has got the sea Battle in the Coliseum I can’t wait to see the N Maia I can’t wait to see the battle scenes full stop even though yes okay it’s it’s very hollywoodish like the attacking of a fortification um of our ships that way but however I’m still

(19:17) very excited for it the whole fighting the whole plot lines the whole I’m interested to see what they do with figures like caraca Gita and mcus and maybe just maybe we might I figure called Casia styo amongst the Senators who knows but look I could be here all day picking apart the historicity but that’s not what this movie is about this is to get people interested in this area of history and if you want to learn the true history the context for much of this you can then go and study it and learn more about it but this looks

(19:52) really really great I can’t wait to get see it in the cinema and hopefully it also gets more people interested in ancient Roman history so yeah that was really good fun I hope you enjoyed it if you did and would like more well make sure that you subscribe to history hit we got plenty more movie reviews coming your way probably some trailer reviews coming as well and also if you want more ancient history content regularly well listen to my podcast the Ancients we release two episodes every week and don’t you worry there will
(20:21) certainly be some Gladiator content coming