Gladiator II review: This sequel falls short of its masterpiece predecessor but is still heaps of farfetched and ferocious fun

Gladiator II Rating: For some, the original Gladiator 24 years ago was Sir Ridley Scott’s masterpiece. Mind you, he also gave us Alien, Blade Runner and Thelma & Louise, not to mention the famous 1973 advert for Hovis, the one with the delivery boy pushing his bike up the steep cobbled street - 'T’was like taking bread to the top of the world!' Normal People star Paul Mescal in the Paramount Pictures Gladiator II Lucius played by Paul and Marcus Acacius played by The Last Of Us star Pedro Pascal It stars the excellent Paul Mescal as Lucius, the young nephew of dastardly Emperor Commodus in the first film. Throughout, you can almost hear the cogs in Scott’s mind turning like chariot wheels as he and screenwriter David Scarpa contrive unsubtle parallels with the original film, in which, as you’ll recall, Russell Crowe’s Maximus Decimus Meridius was 'father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife'. Paul pictured amid a Gladiator fight Macrinus played by The Equalizer star Denzel Washington And let’s not even start on the savage sharks brought in to pep up the recreation of a naval battle.