Are you ready to return to ancient Rome? Before you witness the next chapter in the Gladiator saga, join us as we recap the essential plot points from the original film. From epic battles to political intrigue, we'll refresh your memory on the key moments that set the stage for the highly anticipated sequel.
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00:00Are you not entertained?
00:02Are you not entertained?
00:06Is this not why you are here?
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're breaking down the most important Gladiator plot points to remember going into Ridley Scott's 2024 sequel,
00:16which stars Paul Meskel, Pedro Pascal, and Denzel Washington.
00:19Where were you born?
00:20I don't know.
00:22I never knew a mother nor a father.
00:25You will be my instrument.
00:27Who are you?
00:29Maximus led his troops into battle.
00:32Still nothing.
00:33Not a sign.
00:35How long has he been gone?
00:36Nearly two hours.
00:40Will they fight, sir?
00:42We shall know soon enough.
00:44The Oscar-winning first Gladiator introduces the audience to Russell Crowe's Maximus Decimus Meridius in spectacular fashion.
00:51A highly respected Roman general, Maximus is shown to possess keen strategic insights,
00:56in addition to his cool, calm, commanding presence, both of which serve him well later into the film.
01:01At my signal, unleash hell.
01:04A rousing speech to his troops solidifies everything we need to know about Maximus.
01:09Crowe's character's words prove to be sufficient enough fuel, alongside his almost precognitive intuition,
01:15for his men to capture victory against Germanic tribes in what's now modern-day Vienna, Austria.
01:20Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops.
01:24Imagine where you will be, and it will be so.
01:28Commodus killed his father, Marcus Aurelius.
01:31Senator Gaius, Senator Falco, beware of Gaius.
01:34He'll pour a honeyed potion in your ear, and you'll wake up one day, and all you'll say is,
01:38Republic! Republic!
01:39Maximus' considerable military victory is celebrated at a lively party, where the audience is introduced to Rome's elite,
01:46and their internal tensions are quickly unearthed.
01:49Commodus, the son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius as played by Joaquin Phoenix, is depicted as a selfish, aspiring tyrant.
01:56Maximus, we must save Rome from the politicians, my friend.
01:59Can I count on you when the time comes?
02:08Highness, when your father releases me, I intend to return home.
02:11Crucially, we also meet Lucilla, Marcus' daughter and the mother of Lucius, who will eventually lead Gladiator 2.
02:18Shortly thereafter, we learn that Aurelius has chosen Maximus rather than Commodus to succeed him as emperor,
02:24citing the former's unwavering moral character.
02:27Upon learning this, a humiliated, rage-stricken Commodus strangles his father to death, and thus forcibly claims the throne.
02:35But none of my virtues won your list.
02:40Even then, it was as if you didn't want me for your son.
02:43Oh, Commodus, you go too far.
02:47Commodus betrayed Maximus.
02:49Your emperor asked for your loyalty, Maximus.
02:53Take my hand.
02:57I only offer it once.
02:59Seeking revenge on Maximus for taking what he feels is his birthright, Commodus claims that his elderly father died in his sleep.
03:06The future despot, fully aware that Maximus commands the army's loyalty and respect, offers him one chance to join him.
03:12Maximus, knowing that this defies Marcus' wishes, declines.
03:16The general is promptly apprehended by his own men on Commodus' command.
03:20The emperor has been slain.
03:22The emperor died of natural causes.
03:27Why are you armed, Quintus?
03:28Guards!
03:29The soldiers nearly execute him in a nearby forest before Maximus narrowly overpowers them and makes his escape.
03:35Tragically, it's far too late.
03:37By the time Maximus makes it home to his family, they've already been brutally slain, his soul broken.
03:43Our hero is quickly recaptured.
03:45This time by slave traders who drag him to modern-day Miliana, Algeria.
03:50They will claim it. Wait and see.
03:52Maximus was sold into slavery, and Commodus illicitly claimed the throne.
03:57Deserter.
03:58Maybe so. But who cares?
04:00It's a Spaniard.
04:01I'll take six.
04:02For 1,000.
04:031,000? The Numidian alone is worth 2,000.
04:07These slaves are rotten.
04:09In what was formerly referred to as Zucabar, we meet the skilled negotiator Proximo, who acquires Maximus,
04:15as well as enslaved African gladiator Juba, played by Jumon Honsu.
04:19The two strike up a kinship.
04:21Maximus and Juba unexpectedly find themselves subjects of unwanted attention after a masterful demonstration in the ring,
04:27which sees them emerge victorious.
04:30Meanwhile, in Rome, Commodus' ascendance to the throne is met with skepticism,
04:34mockery, and accusations of nepotism by the Senate over his lack of experience and bad reputation.
04:40He enters Rome like a conquering hero.
04:43What has he conquered?
04:45Give him time, Grax.
04:46He's young.
04:47I think he could do very well.
04:49Commodus mocks their perceived ineffectiveness to their faces.
04:53Privately, he tells Lucilla that he intends to rule as an all-powerful emperor.
04:58Do not see, Lucilla.
05:01I will give the people a vision of Rome, and they'll love me for it.
05:06And they'll soon forget the tedious sermonizing of a few dry old men.
05:10Maximus became the Spaniard.
05:12150 days of games.
05:15He's cleverer than I thought.
05:17Clever.
05:19The whole of Rome would be laughing at him.
05:21In a self-serving effort to win Rome's affection,
05:23Commodus orders 150 days of gladiator games in the city to commemorate his father Marcus Aurelius.
05:29Proximo, recognizing Maximus' potential for greatness, meets with his star pupil,
05:34confiding in him that he, too, used to be a gladiator.
05:37That is, until Marcus granted Proximo his freedom.
05:40He touched me on the shoulder, and I was free.
05:43You knew Marcus Aurelius.
05:47I did not say I knew him.
05:48I said he touched me on the shoulder once.
05:50The slave handler takes Maximus under his wing,
05:52advising him to dazzle the crowd so that he may stand out and catch the emperor's eye.
05:57Of course, at this point, Proximo is totally unaware of Maximus' connection to Commodus,
06:02as well as his true identity.
06:04I will win the crowd.
06:08I will give them something they've never seen before.
06:12So, Spaniard, we shall go to Rome together and have bloody adventures.
06:18Commodus descended further into madness.
06:21I will make Rome the wonder of the ages.
06:27That is what Gracchus and his friends don't understand.
06:31All my desires are splitting my head to pieces.
06:34While Maximus prepares for his first appearance in a Roman game,
06:37Lucilla becomes increasingly worried about Commodus' deteriorating mental health,
06:41as well as his open plotting to dissolve the Senate.
06:45In a clandestine meeting with Senators Gaius and Gracchus,
06:48Lucilla shares that Commodus has even been curtailing free speech and jailing his critics.
06:53They're arresting scholars now.
06:55Anyone who dares speak out.
06:57Even satirists and chroniclers.
06:59And mathematicians.
07:02And all to feed the arena.
07:04Perhaps most troublingly of all,
07:06she reveals to the Senators that he has sold off the Empire's grain reserves
07:10to pay for the games at the people's expense.
07:13Although the Senators share Lucilla's concerns,
07:15they insist that they must hold off, at least for the moment.
07:19Will you make a speech on the floor of the Senate denouncing my brother?
07:23And then see your family in the Coliseum.
07:25Maximus' identity was revealed to Rome.
07:28My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius.
07:31Commander of the armies of the North.
07:33General of the Felix Legions.
07:35Loyal servant to the true Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
07:38Maximus' debut in the Roman games is a reenactment of the historical battle of Zama in Carthage.
07:44Ahead of the game, Maximus encounters Lucilla's son
07:47and future Gladiator 2 protagonist Lucius bonding with him.
07:51Gladiator, are you the one they call the Spaniard?
07:54Yes.
07:56They said you were a giant.
07:58They said you could crush a man's skull with one hand.
08:01Man's? No.
08:04The boy's.
08:05Although the Gladiators are expected to be slaughtered en masse,
08:08Maximus puts his military training and years of expertise on the battlefield to good use,
08:13uniting his soldiers and delivering a wholly unexpected victory in the arena.
08:18This star performance leads to a face-to-face confrontation with Commodus,
08:22who demands that he reveal his identity.
08:24The Emperor is understandably shocked to learn that he is indeed Maximus,
08:29whom he thought dead.
08:30Lucilla offers to help Maximus, with whom she'd once shared a romance.
08:35He rejects her offer, believing her to be an agent sent by her brother.
08:39You can help me.
08:43Forget you ever knew me.
08:45Never come here again.
08:47The kingdom fell.
08:48And now they love Maximus for his mercy.
08:52So I can't just kill him, or it makes me even more unmerciful.
08:57The whole thing's like some crazy nightmare.
09:01The aggrieved Emperor becomes increasingly despondent and paranoid over Maximus' rising star profile,
09:07feeling that he's compelled to let the Gladiator live so as not to martyr him.
09:11Feeling cornered, Commodus begins to put his plan to dissolve the Senate into place,
09:16ordering the sycophantic Senator Falco to have his fellow senators tailed and surveilled.
09:20All the while, Maximus reconnects with Cicero,
09:23who reported to him in the military and recognized him from the crowd.
09:27How long have the men been in Austria?
09:29Winter.
09:30And how do they look?
09:32Fat and bored.
09:34Who's in command?
09:36Some fool from Rome.
09:37Through Cicero, Maximus informs Lucilla that he has reconsidered her offer
09:42and takes her up on it, that is, meeting with Senator Gracchus.
09:45Maximus informs a bewildered Gracchus of his plan to reclaim control of his men and kill Commodus,
09:51putting the late Marcus Aurelius' wishes into place.
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10:35Maximus' valiant plan is thwarted, however, when Commodus receives word of it.
10:39Although the Emperor orders the gladiators' barracks destroyed,
10:42Proximo sacrifices himself for the greater good of Rome, allowing Maximus to make his escape.
10:48Unfortunately, it's too late.
10:50Commodus has Cicero killed and Maximus captured once again.
10:53Arranging for a duel between the two, Commodus stabs Maximus ahead of the match for an unfair advantage.
10:59You would fight me?
11:01Why not?
11:03Do you think I'm afraid?
11:06I think you've been afraid all your life.
11:09Despite this, Maximus comes out ahead by overpowering the Emperor in a brutal bloody one-on-one, ultimately killing him.
11:16Our hero, slowly bleeding out, shares Marcus Aurelius' true last wishes
11:21and asks for both the release of his fellow gladiators and the reinstatement of Senator Gracchus.
11:27There was a dream that was Rome.
11:29It shall be realized.
11:32These are the wishes of Marcus Aurelius.
11:34Maximus' physical body dies and he is reunited with his wife and son in the afterlife.
11:40What's your favorite part of the Best Picture winner?
11:42Let us know in the comments below.
11:44Did you hear that crowd?
11:47The greatest temple Rome ever built.
11:51The Colosseum.
11:52Because this is what they believe in.
11:54Power.
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12:04See you next time.