Gladiator II is a triumph

Ridley Scott has always been clear that films are for making money.

Scott stands tenth in the list of film directors with the highest career box office gross.

His single most lucrative film so far was the cheery Matt Damon vs the Red Planet adventure The Martian .

Russell Crowe is no Crowe , but in every other way it follows the template remarkably closely.

Ridley Scott's films are all about how things look, and not about actors, dialogue, or even story.

Scott selected Paul Mescal personally for this immense action hero debut after seeing a bit of Normal People .

He decided to make Gladiator without reading the script or knowing the story, but simply being shown a copy of a painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme .

Sir Ridley Scott avoids rehearsals and makes his films as quickly as possible.

He has developed a technique of using multiple cameras, eight at a time in Gladiator II , so he can get everything he wants in just a couple of takes.

Scott does n’t deny himself what he wants to see for reasons of petty historical accuracy.