Gladiator 2 is repeating a historic mistake by maintaining continuity with one of the most iconic moments from the first film. The sequel, which arrives more than two decades after the original Best Picture-winning film, is set to be one of the biggest films of 2024. Gladiator 2 liberation is imminent and the film has already begun to receive criticism for its many historical inaccuracies. Whether this is important to one’s enjoyment will vary from viewer to viewer, but at least it’s in keeping with the first film, which wasn’t known for its accuracy with real Roman history.
The long-awaited sequel is directed by Ridley Scott, who told historians to “have a life“to check the facts of 2023 Napoleon film (via Variety). The legendary figure clearly doesn’t care much about precision, focusing instead on assembling an unbelievable cast to Gladiator 2including Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington, who will certainly put on a show. But after one historian referred to a scene from the Gladiator 2 trailer with sharks swimming around the Colosseum as “total Hollywood bullshit” (via THR), a historical inaccuracy from the first film is even more apparent.
Gladiator 2 replicates Commodus’ thumbs up or thumbs down moment
Joseph Quinn’s Emperor Geta will wear the gladiator’s thumbs-down symbol
Who has seen the original Gladiator will recall the scene in which Maximus (Russell Crowe) defeats the Roman people in the Colosseum. Due to the crowd’s conquest, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) has no choice but to spare his life, giving a thumbs up to indicate that he should be spared. If Commodus had pointed his thumb down, it would have been a signal for the soldiers to kill Maximus. At least that’s how the system works in Ridley Scott’s film.
In Gladiator 2actors Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechiner play the young and corrupt dual emperors Geta and Caracalla. Film show trailers Joseph Quinn’s Emperor Geta using the same thumbs-down motion as the original filmmeaning he will eventually execute a gladiator. With an understanding of the movement and how Ridley Scott is using it wrong, it’s quite amusing that he continues to use it again despite criticism for his films being historically inaccurate.
Gladiator got the historical meaning of the thumbs down wrong
The thumbs-down hand symbol was not used in real-life gladiatorial games
In real history, the thumbs up sign was actually used, as Gladiator suggests, but it was actually the symbol that signified death. Instead of a thumbs down, the symbol for sparing the gladiator was the closed fist. Gladiator has many historical inaccuracies, and this is done to avoid confusion by using more obvious symbolism. Ridley Scott considered that a thumbs up would be a universally accepted symbol for “good”, which would easily translate into his film. He is aware of this factual error and obviously has no qualms about reusing it in Gladiator 2.