Gladiator II Parents Guide: Is it OK for Teens?

It’s been 24 years since the original Gladiator film starring Russell Crowe hit theaters, achieving both box office success and critical acclaim. If you’ve seen Gladiator, then you know it was pretty brutal and full of violence. Well Gladiator II said ‘hold my sword’ and is even more brutal and gory. While definitely entertaining, parents should know that Gladiator II is not appropriate for kids. In this Gladiator II Parents Guide, we’ll break down language, violence, and sexual content.

Gladiator II Parents Guide

Ridley Scott is back again with this sequel to Gladiator. Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome. Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.

Age Rating: Why is Gladiator II Rated R?

Gladiator II is rated R for extreme bloody violence which means some content may not be suitable for kids under 17 years old. 

Parents need to know that Gladiator II is a constant stream of violence and the reason for the R rating. 

Language

There are only a couple of uses of profanity including damn and perhaps a use of b*tch. I couldn’t quite make it out.

Violence: Is Gladiator II Too Scary for Kids?

Violence in Gladiator 2 is gratuitous, brutal, and continuous and is not ok for kids. There are many barbaric battle scenes including close up shots of heads being severed, blood spurting out from body parts in a steady stream, ravenous baboons bite off the face of a character while another bites a chunk out of a baboon. Men catch on fire, cannons are shot and blow up bodies, sharks eat different characters, there are battles of war and revenge. Characters are shot with arrows, some are stabbed with swords, others are eaten by animals, etc. Heavy amounts of blood and gore are shown. I had to turn my head in many instances. This film is not for the squeamish.

Mature Content

Some characters kiss. Some women are shown with pasties over their nipples and you can see some side boob. 

Characters are shown drinking alcohol and one is shown breathing in smoke to dull the pain from a wound.

Mature themes such as war, revenge, abandonment, and slavery are prevalent. 

Is Gladiator 2 Appropriate for Kids Under 17?

You can expect to see extreme amounts of violence including a lot of blood and gore. To sum it up, Gladiator II is not kid friendly for kids under the age of 17. It’s rated R for many reasons. 

Now for adults, if you like gratuitous violence, then you’ll enjoy the film. Audiences of Gladiator 2 will fall broadly into two groups: those who loved the first and those who have never seen it.

Those who loved the first movie for the simplicity of its story, depth of characters, and originality will probably not endear themselves to Gladiator 2. Those who never saw the first, or who enjoyed it simply for the epic fight scenes and action sequences, and seeing the spectacle of Ancient Rome recreated on the big screen will likely enjoy Gladiator II a lot.

The action sequences, battle scenes, visuals, and acting all set up Gladiator II to be a blockbuster this holiday season. It’s meant to be seen on the big screen. This type of film is why people love going to the movies. 

Denzel Washington is reason enough to watch Gladiator II. The actors do an incredible job of selling this story that is very similar to the first. The major problem is that its too similar and not better. Gladiator II lacks originality and follows the same enslaved character turned reluctant gladiator storyline. It’s frustrating. 

All that Maximus achieved in Gladiator, or what we assumed he achieved, in the original has vanished and Rome seems to be back in the same state prior to his heroism. But we don’t get a satisfactory explanation why that happened. 

While Gladiator II does fall short in many ways, yes, we are still entertained.