10 Most Divisive Movies Of 2024
6. Gladiator II
Gladiator II is a classic "not as bad as you feared, not as good as you hoped" movie - an entertainingly bombastic spectacle that nevertheless falls far short of Ridley Scott's Best Picture-winning original.
Some saw it as a worthy follow-up as long as you set your expectations appropriately going in, yet others found it excessively derivative of its predecessor, while feeling that Paul Mescal was miscast in the lead role.
The "B" CinemaScore, down from the first film's "A," suggests it's not quite the fist-pumping crowd-pleaser that its predecessor was, and for some it evidently feels like a too little, too late sequel that continues Ridley Scott's run of mediocre late-career epics.
Love it, hate it, or fall somewhere in the middle, though, most will agree that Gladiator II won't have nearly the same cultural cachet as the original.
20 years from now, how fondly are people really going to be talking about it, if they even are at all?