I have to hand it to the "Gladiator II" marketing department: they did a good job keeping the film's main villain a secret. When I sat down to watch Ridley Scott's sequel (read my review here), the trailers had convinced me that the film's villains would be the twin emperors played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger and a general played by Pedro Pascal. After all, the emperor (played by Joaquin Phoenix) was the villain in the first film, and the trailers for "Gladiator II" make it clear that the movie's main character, Lucius, played by Paul Mescal, wants revenge against Pascal's general.

But "Gladiator II" has a few twists up its sleeve. While Pascal's character, General Acacius, does cause the death of Lucius' wife in the opening scene of the film, we quickly learn that he's not really such a bad guy. For one thing, he's married to Lucius' mother, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen). He also despises those twin emperors and wants to lead a revolt against them. As for the emperors, Geta and Caracalla (who are inspired by real historical figures), they are antagonists in the film, but they have rather minor roles to play. By the time the film reaches its big climax, Acacius and the twins will all be dead thanks to the work of the film's real villain: Macrinus, played by a scene-stealing Denzel Washington.

Washington is by far the best part of "Gladiator II." Unfortunately, this ends up hurting the film in a few ways. You see, Washington is so good here, and so charismatic, that he ends up being far more entertaining to watch than the film's star, Paul Mescal. I think Mescal is a pretty good actor, but he seems out of his element in a big Hollywood blockbuster -- he's more suited for supporting roles or leading smaller indie films. Washington, meanwhile, is one of our best living actors, and anytime he's not on screen, "Gladiator II" sags. On top of that, Macrinus' story is more interesting. You end up wishing the film had cut out Lucius entirely and focused on Macrinus instead.