This movie seemed to evoke very strong and contradictory reactions. A very smart and film-savvy young friend of mine was very scornfully dismissive. While some of his points were fair (the appalling and freaky shaved baboons in the first arena fight scene being a particularly valid example of this) for the most part I was very impressed by the film and thoroughly engaged for the lengthy running time.
I thought that it developed very well from the events of the first film and I was even thinking at times that maybe this was an example where the follow-up to ab very successful film was even better and more effective than the first (think Alien/Aliens, The Terminator/Terminator II). On reflection I do not think that this film is at that level but what it did, I felt it did very well. Complaints have been levelled at the depth of the characters portrayed but, again, for the sort of thrill-ride that the film is meant to be, I thought that this aspect was at the very least, perfectly adequate and at times, particularly with Denzel Washington, rather more than that. And the two Emperors were great fun!