By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

Mescal returns to the West End stage in 2025 in Rebecca Frecknall’s A Streetcar Named Desire and that performance as swarthy and brutish Stanley Kowalski gives a sense of the physicality he brings to Ridley Scott’s sequel to his 5 Oscar-winning film Gladiator.

• Read on for reasons including how this is absolutely ridiculous but also a riveting romp through its 148 minutes that requires a suspension of disbelief

But Mescal’s grandson of former emperor Marcus Aurelius might have the rage of the titular Gladiator but is as sensitive as his Connell in TV’s Normal People and Oscar-nominated turn as Calum in Aftersun.

Which is perhaps just as well because he has some big sandals to fill because Russell Crowe, the star of the original film who appears in flashbacks here, won the Best Actor Oscar for his turn in the original.

Gladiator 2‘s plot doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny but essentially Mescal’s Lucius Verus is exiled at the end of the original film because of his claim to the throne and is returned to the city after Pedro Pascal‘s General Acacius captures him in the North African kingdom of Numidia while conquering it during which Lucius’ wife is killed creating a rivalry between the 2.

Verus is spotted by Denzel Washington’s ambitious Macrinus after biting a computer-generated baboon in conflict and brought to the Colosseum to fight as a gladiator for the sport of insenstive emperors Geta and Caracalla.

Connie Nielsen plays Verus’ mother Lucilla, also wife of General Acacius, who makes herself known to our hero and persuades him to be a part of the plot to overthrow the emperors.

Elsewhere Blackadder‘s Tim McInnerny betrays the plotters to pay a debt to Washington’s scene-chewing Macrinus and Matt Lucas (Les Miserables, Gielgud Theatre) even tops off the madness of sharks and boats in the Colosseum which appears to have passed everyone else by.

Sir Derek Jacobi (Romeo And Juliet, Garrick Theatre) even makes a welcome return from the original film to provide some continuity as the spectacle of what we’re seeing threatens to outweigh any plausibility it might have aspired for.

Mescal will make better films than this but in a short space of time he has made the seamless transfer from TV, through arthouse movies to genuine blockbuster action hero.

Scott’s Gladiator 2 is absolutely ridiculous but also a riveting romp through its 148 minutes that requires a suspension of disbelief as Mescal’s star continues to rise.

Mescal takes his A Streetcar Named Desire to Broadway after a short West End run and long may he continue to tread London’s boards while pursuing a film career showing off his impressive chameleon-like acting abilities. Vote for him to win our monsta for Best TV/Film Actor.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Gladiator II Tickets
• Have you seen a Gladiator film before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
• Enjoyed this preview? Follow monstagigz on Twitter @NeilDurham, email neildurham3@gmail.com and check us out on Instagram and Facebook