It was just three weeks ago that Ridley Scott claimed that there wouldn’t be an extended cut of “Gladiator II” because, in his words, he had final cut on the film. I should have never believed him. The guy can’t help it, and he’s now teasing — you guessed it — a 3 hour 40 minute cut of the film.
In an interview with THR, Scott reveals that his original cut of “Gladiator II” — which is earning mixed reviews from critics— was nearly four hours long, and that an extended cut might some day be released. However, how quick it gets released will depend on the work that needs to be done on “Gladiator III” (which already has 14 pages written).
For the life of me, I can’t imagine that there’s a great movie waiting to be found with all of that extra footage. “Gladiator II” is a fascinating mess, and its attempts to replicate the glories of the original fail miserably. It’s the type of film that can best be enjoyed if you don’t take any of it too seriously.
“Gladiator II,” which is now in theaters, has a runtime of 2 hours 28 minutes — that’s just 7 minutes less than the first one, released in 2000. No extra footage will be able to hide Paul Mescal’s miscast performance. The only bright spot in the film is Denzel Washington’s scene chewing performance as shadowy manipulator Macrinus.
As you might already know, Scott has had many films given the “extended” or “director’s” cut treatment — some of his more famous examples include “Napoleon” “Kingdom of Heaven,” “The Counselor,” “Blade Runner,” “Robin Hood,” and “Gladiator.”
Earlier in the year, Scott unveiled his director’s cut of “Napoleon,” via Apple TV+, which added an additional 48 minutes of footage, but not many people paid attention to it. I still haven’t seen it, and haven’t heard anyone mention that it was an improvement upon the original.