Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2024: Denzel Washington in Gladiator II

Denzel Washington did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Macrinus in Gladiator II. 

Gladiator II is the pale sequel/remake of Gladiator, this time following former heir to the Empire Lucius (Paul Mescal) as he seeks revenge against Rome while also in a Gladiator pit. I will say rewatching this film only exacerbated its flaws for me, and eliminating at least motivation to see what happens next in the most basic sense made it truly a slog this time around.

Washington seemingly takes over the Proximo role Oliver Reed played in the original film, who bought Maximus (Russell Crowe) in that film, as Washington as Macrinus buys Lucius. But the comparisons stop there and Macrinus stands as the best thing about the film but also still yet another point of frustration. Washington on the most immediate surface is most welcome in this film, providing some much needed star power left with the absence of Crowe, which Mescal has already proven himself to be a great actor but from this tryout at least he might not be ideal for straight leading men style roles that rely largely on star charisma. Much of Washington’s performance though seems designed just honestly to play around in scenes as an actor with such tremendous charisma, and I’ll say isn’t entirely ill-fitting to the way Macrinus presents himself outwardly as this flamboyant Gladiator owner. Washington gives two different performances here, this first one is almost in the Raul Julia in Street Fighter, Alan Rickman in Robin Hood Prince Thieves School of elevating bad material by just riffing on the material by going broad and to be at least entertaining within their own work. I write almost however because I wouldn’t quite consider that performance on that level, though I do attribute this more so to the way he’s edited more than anything. In his early scenes there’s a bit of a strange urgency in all of Washington’s scenes to get out of there as soon as possible, making them not nearly as fun as they could be if Ridley Scott had allowed him to really bite into that scenery. Instead we get his mechanizations through some really overly simplistic scenes of making a series of bets with Senator Darling (Tim McInnerny) which alone allows him to nearly take hold of all of Rome as apparently that Senator knows everything despite being an obvious dolt. Regardless Washington gets to have some fun in just in being tastefully over the top, such as his expression of joy when initially making the bet, his four letter expletive eating grin after seeing Senator Darling each time, or his weirdly comforting, certainly homoerotic way of lovingly embracing the Senator just as he’s basically saying he owns all his things and will now be his personal lap dog. Washington is fun in all these bits, but I’m not going to lie, I wish there was more to them, make the mechanizations more complicated, give Washington more things to play with, or even the scenario as is, give him more real estate just to play around with, unfortunately Scott does neither…although Scott unsurprisingly has proclaimed an extra long director’s cut for this film.

Washington however does have a separate performance which he does logically fashion within the scheme of his own work as his public scenes are where he presents Macrinus with that playfulness but his private scenes with Lucius Washington does largely tone it down to deliver a more serious performance. And just as Washington is fun with the big scenes, he delivers the utmost conviction with his more intimate scenes knowing how throw out a lot of exposition with hints of intention as he goes on about the nature of Rome and seemingly looks at Lucius as far more than just a gladiator who might make him some money. Washington brings an incisiveness within his eyes and his words to suggest the greater ambition of Macrinus before we eventually get the turn, where Macrinus takes the next step by informing the twin Emperors McPoyle, Liam (Joseph Quinn) and Ryan (Fred Hechinger) of the betrayal of Lucius’s mom Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and her husband Acacius (Pedro Pascal) in their attempt to overthrow the Emperors. Something that gets Macrinus in the good graces of the Emperors, and we get what is probably Washington at his closest to the Rickman/Julia sweet spot. Where Ryan, crazed by some sort of STD, starts going crazy over his monkey Dondus and accuses Liam of conspiracy, which Macrinus cultivates. Even Washington specific delivery of “Dondus” with such phony yet believable sincerity of a great protector is something rather special, and his quietly egging Ryan on with this phony sincerity, though always winking to we the audience in the false some over done way he says every line is a lot of fun. With a great topper when Ryan starts stabbing Liam and Liam asks Macrinus for help, only for Macrinus to use Ryan’s hand to finish the job, where Washington’s giant smile like Macrinus is living his very best life in the moment, is the kind of moment you want from this performance. Contrasting that is Macrinus’s most interior moment where he reveals to Lucilla that he was a former slave under her father Marcus Aurelius and all of his mechanizations have been to destroy Rome due to his former treatment. A truly juicy idea, and Washington’s definitely good in his defiant yet reserved anger of someone who has kept it in for long just to savor this very moment, but again I just wanted a little more, not from Washington but from Scott to just have that little extra. The whole idea of the character is a potentially amazing one, with a game actor in Washington but as it exists it just isn’t as much as it could be. As the big finale we do get some good moments from Washington, such as when he explains he’ll blame any fallout for his plan on the remaining Emperor, by noting that’s “Politics” where his delivery of just politics is purely an acting moment to make something memorable about a not particularly memorable line or scene. The ending though feels so rushed and lacking again better moments for Washington to sink his teeth into, particularly not the ill-conceived final duel between Washington and Lucius, though I do have great affection for his final expression. I will admit I included Washington in the lineup in part because I did want to see just how I felt as I liked him the first time but wasn’t sure if it was just due to contrast, though in reality this might’ve slightly hurt him by forcing me to watch the film again. And in doing so, the film dragged and Washington’s scenes dragged the least, some of his scenes still did, and some became frustrating because it became so obvious how much potential there was to exploit this performance and character for so much more than we get here. As Scott should’ve let Washington have more fun, or should’ve given him some better scripted scenes to really dive into dramatically in cultivating a really potentially powerful sympathetic villain arc. As it is, it is easy to see the potential of this, because some parts do achieve it like the aforementioned Dondus scene, but in the end it just isn’t enough.