10 movies like ‘Gladiator II' for fans of period action films (2024)

Directed by:Robert Eggers

Cast:Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Ethan Hawke, Gustav Lindh, Björk, Willem Dafoe

Runtime:2 hours 17 minutes

IMDb rating:7

RT rating:90 per cent

Synopsis:Amleth (Skarsgård), a young Viking prince, seeks revenge for his father’s murder at the hands of his uncle, Fjölnir (Bang).

More about the film:According to Smithsonian Magazine, it is not clear if Amleth was a real Viking prince from mediaeval Scandinavia or a fictional character. Nevertheless, the story of Amleth was the inspiration for William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Why to watch:Revenge is the common thread that binds The Northman’s Amleth to both Gladiator’s Maximus and Gladiator II’s Lucius Verus. All three want vengeance for the wrong that was committed against their dear ones by a ruling authority. However, The Northmanis much darker and contains far more violent depictions than both Gladiator movies.

Directed by:Ridley Scott

Cast:Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Edward Norton, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Marton Csokas, Liam Neeson, Ghassan Massoud,

Runtime: 2 hours 24 minutes

IMDb rating:7.3

RT rating:39 per cent

Synopsis:Balian, a blacksmith in a French village and the son of the Baron of Ibelin (Neeson), arrives in the Holy Land and becomes acquainted with King Baldwin IV (Norton) of Jerusalem. When the king dies of leprosy, Balian becomes the defender of Jerusalem and its people after the notorious actions of Guy de Lusignan (Csokas) and Raynald of Châtillon (Gleeson) trigger a siege of the city by the Ayyubid sultan, Saladin (Massoud).

More about the film: Though several characters in the film are based on historical figures, the story and the events are heavily fictionalised. Despite its critical reception at the time of its release, Kingdom of Heaven is today counted among the best Ridley Scott movies of all time.

Why to watch:Thisis a film directed by Scott, which means that there are quite a few thematic and technical similarities to Gladiator and Gladiator II. The visuals in Kingdom of Heaven are stunning and so are the special effects – just like the two Gladiator movies.

Directed by:Wolfgang Petersen

Cast:Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Diane Kruger, Orlando Bloom, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Rose Byrne, Brendan Gleeson, Peter O’Toole

Runtime:2 hours 43 minutes

IMDb rating:7.3

RT rating:53 per cent

Synopsis: Paris (Bloom), a prince of Troy, and Helen (Kruger), the wife of Spartan King Menelaus (Gleeson), fall in love. Paris takes Helen to Troy, which triggers an invasion of the kingdom by Menelaus’ fearsome brother, Agamemnon (Cox) of the Greeks. The strong defensive fortifications of Troy and its champion prince, Hector (Bana), initially appear to be an insurmountable barrier until Agamemnon sends his greatest hero – Achilles (Pitt).

More about the film: The film is loosely based on Homer’s epic poem Iliad. Parts of the sequences depicted in the film come from other ancient Greek literature.

Why to watch:As a big screen fare, Troy is grander in scale than each of the two Gladiatorfilms. But this is partly because Troyis a war movie and is one of the most expensive films ever made. It is also worth noting that both sides in Troyare technically the ruling classes, while the Ridley Scott films have their focus on those suffering because of the ruling elites. That said, the realism of the action in Troymirrors that of Gladiator. Pitt, who recently reunited with George Clooney on the action-comedy Wolfs, certainly comes closest to Crowe’s display of restrained rage on the screen.

Directed by:Peter Weir

Cast:Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany

Runtime:2 hours 18 minutes

IMDb rating:7.5

RT rating:85 per cent

Oscars won: 2(for Best Cinematography and Best Sound Editing)

Synopsis:Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe), the brash captain of H.M.S. Surprise, is unrelenting in his pursuit of a French war vessel off the coast of South America during the Napoleonic Wars in 1805. While his crew dislikes his overbearing ways, Jack finds a friend in the ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin (Bettany).

More about the film:The two Oscar wins for the film came from 10 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Its plot is based on three of the 20 completed novels of the Aubrey–Maturinseries by English author Patrick O’Brian.

Why to watch:Leadership and brotherhood are at the heart of both Master and Commander: The Far Side of the Worldand Gladiator. Since Crowe plays the lead role in both movies, it is a treat for the actor’s fans who would love to see more of him in period films.

Directed by:Zack Snyder

Cast:Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, Rodrigo Santoro

Runtime:1 hour 57 minutes

IMDb rating:7.6

RT rating:61 per cent

Synopsis: When the forces of King Xerxes (Santoro) of Persia arrive at the doorstep of Sparta in 480 BC, the valiant King Leonidas (Butler) and his band of 300 soldiers decide to make a last stand against the much larger enemy at the narrow pass of Thermopylae to stop the invaders for as long as possible.

More about the film: Based on the 1998 comic book limited series of the same name by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, 300 is a fictionalised account of the Battle of Thermopylae. Its sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), was not as critically or commercially successful as the original.

Why to watch:Gerard Butler would have made for an excellent gladiator in any movie about the Roman warriors on the back of his performance in 300. In fact, his Leonidas comes the closest to the machismo displayed on the screen by Crowe’s Maximus – though supported by more stylised action and unreal special effects. As for the story, the Gladiatorfilms and 300 shares the same spirit of standing up to a more powerful force.

Directed by:Edward Zwick

Cast:Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Hiroyuki Sanada, Koyuki, Timothy Spall, Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn

Runtime:2 hours 34 minutes

IMDb rating:7.6

RT rating:66 per cent

Synopsis:Nathan Algren (Cruise) is an American captain under the employ of the Japanese emperor during the Meiji Restoration era in the 19th century. He is tasked with training conscripts of the Imperial Japanese Army to fight the famed samurai, who are opposed to the modernisation. When Nathan is captured by the samurai, he begins understanding their ways and why they are opposed to modernisation. As a result, he finds himself at the centre of two powerful opposing forceswhose fate will decide the future of Japan.

More about the film:Widely hailed as one of the best Samurai movies of all time, The Last Samurai received four Oscar nominations.

Why to watch:In both Gladiator and The Last Samurai, the focus is on the singular protagonist and how they become an unlikely hero of those who were once their adversaries. Maximus fights other gladiators but eventually becomes their leader when he rises up against Commodus. Similarly, Cruise’s Captain Nathan Algren is an enemy of the samurai till he understands their plight and chooses to fight on their side.

Directed by:Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Mann

Cast:Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov

Runtime:3 hours 17 minutes

IMDb rating:7.9

RT rating:94 per cent

Oscars won: 4 (including for Best Supporting Actor and Best Cinematography)

Synopsis:Born and raised as a slave, Spartacus (Douglas), a gladiator fighting for the entertainment of the nobles, leads a violent insurrection against the Roman Republic. As he is joined by more rebels from across the Roman lands, the ambitious Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus (Olivier) devises a plot to end the uprising and punish Spartacus.

Why to watch:The drama was adapted from Howard Fast’s 1951 historical novel about Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator who led the slaves in the Third Servile War (73–71 BC). The film’s four Oscars came from six nods. It also won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama.

Thematic similarity: No film shares as many thematic similarities with Gladiatorand Gladiator II as Spartacus. The biggest connection is that Spartacus was a gladiator and it is the 1960 film which is believed to have served as the most significant influence on the Russell Crowe movie. Moreover, parallels can be drawn between Marcus and the character of Macrinus in Gladiator II, which is played by Denzel Washington, in that they share similar ambitions about controlling the empire even though both come from the opposite strata of the same society.

Directed by:Zhang Yimou

Cast:Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Donnie Yen, Chen Daoming

Runtime:2 hours

IMDb rating:7.9

RT rating:94 per cent

Synopsis: During the Warring States Period in ancient China, a nameless warrior (Li) recounts to the King of Qin how he defeated three assassins the monarch feared the most. But the wise king begins suspecting that the warrior is not telling the truth.

Why to watch: One of the greatest Chinese action movies of all time, Herois an all-time classic for both fans of martial arts movies and those who appreciate dramatic storytelling through superlative character acting. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.

Thematic similarity:Anyone who has loved the action in Gladiatorand Gladiator IIwill love this wuxia masterpiece, where the tension keeps mounting with every clash of the blades on the screen. It is also noteworthy that Herois set towards the end of the Warring States Period in about 221 BC, following which China became unified under the Qin dynasty. On the other hand, events in the first Gladiator film, even though fictionalised, technically lead to the end of the Pax Romana, or the golden age of the Roman Empire. Thus, both are placed in climacteric periods of their respective historical settings. At the same time, Hero is one of the best Jet Li movies that redefined the martial arts genre.

Directed by:William Wyler

Cast:Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Cathy O’Donnell, Martha Scott

Runtime:3 hours 32 minutes

IMDb rating:8.1

RT rating:87 per cent

Oscars won: 11 (including Best Picture and Best Director)

Synopsis:Following a betrayal by his Roman friend Messala (Boyd) that uproots his family, Judah Ben-Hur (Heston), a Palestinian Jew, is consumed by his quest for revenge. Years later, he accepts a chariot race challenge knowing that Messala will be his competitor.

Why to watch:This is the third film and the first talkie based on Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It is also the first film to win 11 Oscars – a record later equalled by Titanic(1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). As such it is still the joint record holder for movies with the highest Oscar wins.

Thematic similarity:Though the protagonists in Ben-Hurand the two Gladiator films are fictional, their common thread is that they are set in the Roman Empire. Ben-Hurtakes place in the time of Christ, when the Roman Empire was only about three decades old, while the first Gladiator movie is set in the later half of the 2nd century when it was at its height.

Directed by:Mel Gibson

Cast:Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Catherine McCormack

Runtime:2 hours 58 minutes

IMDb rating:8.3

RT rating:76 per cent

Oscars won: 5 (including Best Picture and Best Director)

Synopsis:Following a personal tragedy due to the soldiers of the tyrannical King Edward I (Hanly), Scottish warrior William Wallace (Gibson) launches an uprising to free his people from the English crown in the 13th century.

More about the film:Though based on real characters and events, Braveheartis known for several historical inaccuracies. These include the suggestion of an affair between the characters played by Wallace and Marceau. Its five Oscar wins came from 10 nominations.

Why to watch:Braveheart, released five years before Gladiator, is about a rebellion led by its lead character. Even Gladiator 2 has rebellion at its heart. Notwithstanding the historical inaccuracy, Wallace, the protagonist, finds love on the enemy’s side only for it to end in tragedy – a theme seen in Gladiator, Troyand The Last Samurai.