In Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II,” Rome is on the brink. The decline is said to be imminent. The dream it once symbolized is dead. The once magnanimous ideals of the Roman Empire have deteriorated in a purchasable land now ruled by a pale-faced emperor.

On the throne is Geta (Joseph Quinn), sitting next to his sniveling brother Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). The heart of this Rome is, of course, the Colosseum, where crowds cheer on the gladiators as they fight and die. There, the ageless Scott remains remarkably at home. Filled with spectacle and explosions of violence, the arena replicates the director’s vision for the big screen: Go big or go home.

This dilemma — a fallen society and its insatiable need for entertainment — forms the clever and less-than-flattering backdrop to the “Gladiator” movies. Set 20 years after the events of the first film, the second installment introduces a new warrior to the Colosseum: a mysterious stranger named Lucius Verus, played by Paul Mescal. And to answer the inevitable question, yes. Yes, I had a lot of fun.

“Gladiator II” is not a very prestigious film; The first movie to win the Best Picture award was shot in 2001. It was more of a swaggering, swords-and-sandals epic that prioritized the need to entertain above all else. No one in Gladiator II understands this better than Denzel Washington. His performance as Machiavellian power broker Macrinus is a delicious blur of robes and smiles; It’s so intriguingly over-the-top that it almost reaches 1990s Al Pacino standards. Written by: JAKE COYLE (AP)