The pleasures of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II are numerous: There’s Paul Mescal as scrappy gladiator Lucius, bent on kicking as much Roman ass as possible. Pedro Pascal is a stalwart general who realizes with regret that he’s sacrificed his own morals for the glory of Rome. The ever-regal Connie Nielsen returns, from the first film, as Lucilla, daughter of the late Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who’s dismayed that her father’s ideals have been betrayed by the current emperors of the republic, a duo of cretinous brothers played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger.