Gladiator II 2024

Ridley Scott shooting this in less than 60 days is insane. The man’s 80 and working harder than ever. That said, Ridley’s post-2017 track record has been all over the place. The Last Duel? Incredible. Napoleon? Let’s not talk about it. Gladiator 2 lands somewhere in between—huge, loud, and entertaining as hell, but it’s missing that spark, that soul that makes his best stuff sing. I can't believe I'm saying this but I would appreciate a Director's cut of this one as I often felt like the movie tried to do too much in too little time. Still, I can’t hate on it too much. It’s single-handedly keeping the end-of-year box office alive, and I’ll always respect Ridley for staying relentless. The guy’s a legend, even when he’s not at his peak.