Fact-checking 'Gladiator II': Were there really sharks in the Colosseum?

Fact-checking 'Gladiator II': Were there really sharks in the Colosseum?

Ridley Scott was eager for his movie "Gladiator II" to be as faithful as possible to real history, but he's blunt on whether all details matter.

Were there really rhinos, baboons and sharks in the Colosseum? A professor explains ‘Gladiator II’ scenes

The movie "Gladiator II" features scenes involving rhinos, baboons and sharks. A professor explains whether these animals were actually featured in the Roman Colosseum.

Gladiator II has baboons, Coliseum sharks, Paul Mescal’s thighs, and so much historical inaccuracy

Paul Mescal in Gladiator II. In the movie, Mescal’s Lucius bites a baboon and chokes it to death. Fact check: Though Mescal is capable of biting and choking, it is unlikely gladiators were doing so in Ancient Rome. | Paramount Pictures Welcome to Know-It-All. In the age of intellectual property grabs, docudramas, and so very many sequels, it can be difficult to find a way into the complicated worlds we see on screen. In this series, Vox experts…

'Fun, But Preposterous': Expert Criticizes Gladiator II for Historical Inaccuracies, Including Sharks and Rhinos in the Colosseum

Fans were promised a spectacle of the ancient Roman way of life in Gladiator II, and they received it when the highly anticipated sequel to the 2000 historical epic hit theaters on November 15. The Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, and Denzel Washington-starring flick, directed by Ridley Scott, however, is being denounced for taking more creative liberties than required by Shadi Bartsch, the University of Chicago’s Helen A. Regenstein Distinguished Ser…