I saw Gladiator II (aka Son of Gladiator)

Gladiator II is director Ridley Scott's unexpected but welcome sequel to his 2000 epic, starring Russell Crowe, though the follow-up only features "the Spaniard," General Maximus Decimus Meridius, through an archival view. This sequel's main brawler is his son. 

Paul (Foe) Mescal portrays Lucius "Hanno" Verus, a boy Maximus knew and with whom he shared a furtive, biological link. Lucius has been long separated from his mother, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), serving his Numidia homeland with his warrior wife (Yuvel Gonen), until they fall into defeat by Rome, which then leads Lucius to follow his father's fate into the Colosseum.  

Lucius is joined by another beleaguered fighter, Pedro (Wonder Woman 1984) Pascal's General Marcus Acacius, Lucilla's spouse, who Lucius considers a foe, though he's more a friend if the truth be known. In this respect, Marcus wishes to stage a coup to cease Rome's maddening campaigns. 

David (Napoleon) Scarpa's script creates a next-generation flow within the plot's governmental scheme, which adheres to the original's structure, with honor and survival put on the line. The story represents those who's crime is speaking their minds, working off principle and yearning for freedom and peace: something that Rome's myopic bureaucracy doesn't believe the populace understands or deserves. 

At the heart of the contentious politics is Denzel Washington's Macrinus, a former slave who harbors plans to rule Rome, per crafty, League of Assassins methodologies. Marcinus is flanked by Tim McInnery's giddy but reckless Senator Thraex; and Joseph Quinn's sadistic Emperor Geta and Fred Hechinger's imbecilic Emperor Caracalla: Romulus/Remus brothers entitled to a malicious and detrimental fault. In philosophical opposition to this group is Derek Jacobi's Senator Gracchus, returning from the previous chapter to denounce their out-of-touch deceit. 

I've heard a fair sum of advance, anti-virility condemnation for Gladiator II, with claims that it, like the original, is too rebellious and toxic-fueled. Such views are, of course, utter nonsense. Gladiator II, like its predecessor, is an acceptable, rise-against-the-odds fable, which reflects such rough and honest, hills-and-valleys tales as Rocky, First Blood, The Black Panther, Mad Max, Rollerball 1975, The Mark of Zorro (any version) and the now politically incorrect, mid-Star Wars trilogy. 

Gladiator II's pure-at-heart message is, indeed, simple, but keep in mind, it's often a basic foundation that resonates strongest for many of us, for such reflects the strife of everyday life, in particular those ridiculous, dictatorial mandates we hope to sever. For this reason, Lucius and his father represent and inspire the downtrodden, whether in the fictional realm or beyond it. Their need to fight the good fight is what makes their saga so enriching, and Gladiator II is the sort of sequel that our long broken, social climate needs more than ever.