It's me man

The lead actor wasn't convincing as a Gladiator, he could have been a school teacher or an accountant. Denzel's character was more training day dude than a Roman citizen. Russell Crowe was a killer in 1 and nothing tops that. Also there were no memorable lines for quotes like In 1 . "Your faults as a son are my failures as a father ", "A people should know when they are conquered", "Husband of a murdered wife father of a murdered son and I will have my vengeance in this life Or the next" and so many more. It's a 2 at best IMO.