On the one hand, “Gladiator II” feels unnecessary.

Of course, pricey sequels — and big-budget films in general — rarely feel necessary. That’s an extremely high bar, and we all know such movies exist almost entirely to make money.

Even keeping that in mind, if there’s a movie that has not cried out for a follow-up, it is 2000’s “Gladiator,” filmmaker Ridley Scott’s Academy Award-winning historical epic that solidified actor Russell Crowe as a major star. That Maximus, Crowe’s Roman general-turned-slave gladiator — um, spoiler alert — dies at the film’s end brings an air of finality to the story.

On the other hand, nobody does cinematic spectacle like the endlessly prolific Scott, seemingly still at the height of his conducting powers in his mid-80s. And “Gladiator II” — in theaters this week — is chock full of spectacle. Yes, it is the story of the grown Lucius (Paul Mescal), a child in “Gladiator,” but this film’s grandeur is its real star.

If you plan to see “Gladiator II” — and it’s ultimately worth seeing, despite a third act that runs almost completely off the tracks — see it on the biggest screen possible.

Set about a decade and a half after the events of “Gladiator,” “II” begins by paying homage to its predecessor via nicely done animated illustrations of unmistakable moments from the first film. Stirring exactly the emotions they are intended to, these visuals are set to thrilling music that, during a recent advanced screening, absolutely jumped out of a state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos-equipped sound system.

When the sequence ends, you certainly are ready for more “Gladiator.”

Scott and screenwriter David Scarpa (Scott’s “All the Money in the World”) then reintroduce us to Lucius, with Oscar nominee Mescal (“Aftersun,” “All of Us Strangers”) taking over for Spencer Treat Clark.

Using a different name, Lucius lives far from Rome, in the African kingdom of Numidia, with his lovely wife, Arishat (Yuval Gonen). Their seemingly idyllic existence is interrupted by the arrival of Roman ships, the pair gearing up for war and arriving at a fortress to fight alongside others in the hope of staving off this fleet of invaders.

The greatest of the film’s spectacular sequences is its first, the battle that sees Numidia fall to the forces of Acacius (Pedro Pascal, “The Last of Us”), a decorated general whom Lucius now holds responsible for the death of Arishat, even if it was not he who loosed the arrow that felled her.

Brought back to Rome as a slave, Lucius is purchased by wealthy, ambitious and ostentatious businessman Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who works to gain the favor of Rome’s twin emperors, mentally unbalanced brothers Caracalla (Fred Hechinger, “The White Lotus”) and Geta (Joseph Quinn, “Stranger Things”)

We soon see that Acacius is not the man Lucius believes him to be but instead someone who, like Lucius’ late grandfather, Emperor Marcus Aurelius, dreams of a better Rome and is planning an insurrection against the insatiable brothers. Also unknown to Lucius is that Acacius is wed to Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), the former’s estranged mother. (Nielsen and Derek Jacobi, who reprises the role of Lucilla’s ally Gracchus, are the only two returning players from “Gladiator.”)

One of several ways “II” echoes “Gladiator” is that Lucius’ skills in combat impress the emperors, who soon learn he has no interest in winning their favor.

Meanwhile, Lucilla has reason to suspect this imposing fighter is her son, but he rejects her when she reaches out to him. (The film eventually fills in the blanks, showing us how Lucius came to grow up away from her and Rome, for which he has nothing but contempt.)

Along the way to the film’s story threads converging, we get a handful of sequences involving Lucius fighting for the public’s amusement, each scene possibly wilder than the one before it. We’re talking everything from ferocious monkeys to sharks, the Colosseum having been flooded for the latter affair.

Do you think you’ll not be entertained?

While he isn’t prime Russell Crowe, Mescal — whose work in the series “Normal People” first made him attractive to the film’s producers, according to the production notes for “Gladiator II” — possesses the gravity and charisma necessary for this role.

Lucius isn’t the most interesting character in “II,” however. That distinction goes to the increasingly over-the-top Macrinus, who schemes his way up the political ladder with all the subtlety of a machine gun. (And hey, if you’re going to watch an actor chew some scenery — and chew Washington does — you can do far worse than the Academy Award winner for “Glory” and “Training Day.”)

Based loosely on real figures — like the first film, “II” is a blend of fact and fiction that seems pretty darned heavy on the fiction — Geta and Caracalla are a watered-down if two-headed version of Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus from the first film. Caracalla’s eventual bestowing of significant power on his pet monkey, Dundas, is an example of how silly this film can be.

The aforementioned final act — whiplash-worthy given all that transpires in it — is another.

You walk out of “Gladiator II” feeling at least vaguely how you felt at the end of Scott’s 2023 biographical epic, “Napoleon.” Scott’s just given you stretches of filmmaking that literally only he can deliver but an overall experience that feels less than cohesive.

That said, as with “Gladiator,” the conclusion of “II” feels rather final. Not all that surprisingly, however, Scott already is making noises about making a third film in the series.

As we’re not looking for a world devoid of that Scott spectacle, we’re not going to tell him to stop.

———

‘GLADIATOR II’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for strong bloody violence)

Running time: 2:28

How to watch: In theaters Nov. 22

———

©2024 The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio). Visit The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio) at www.news-herald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.