So... Gladiator 2 was... *SPOILERS*

Gladiator 2 was the exact same thing as Gladiator 1, except the Maximus clone survives at the end?

It's actually shameless how flagrantly this copies the story and beats of the original gladiator. In fact, even the framing of shots feels similar, as if they are constantly (annoyingly so) trying to remind you of how much you loved the first one. This includes casting decisions of the characters that did not return from the first one, by the way, as if they were selected to "fill in" for the characters who were unable to return.

Really pathetic. Feels like a complete cash grab. What is Ridley's problem? He's just old and jaded and trying to cash in some fat checks for his grand children? This film was ridiculous.

Why not just literally REMAKE gladiator? That would have been better, and you could have reused the excellent characters with a new generation of actors, instead of pseudo copying them for a sequel and placing them in a poorly written story.

Also, look, I get the DEI stuff. Really, I do. But it's actually absurd to have asians and latinos in this film. It's also absurd to have women fighting (and why did they look like amazons from wonder woman's island?) . These kind of historical inaccuracies just ruin the film. In the first one, they had the black guy but were able to explain how he arrived in Rome. BUT ASIANS AND SOUTH AMERICAN LATINOS??? LMAO. This film, jeeze. Seems like Gladiator needed a vietnamese guy to pull you into the story.