Blu Tuesday is a weekly column where we review the newest Blu-ray and 4K releases, along with a brief rundown of the included bonus material, to determine whether they’re worth buying, renting or skipping.
Pick of the Week: “Gladiator II”
Ridley Scott is at the point in his career where he can do whatever he wants, so it’s no surprise that the veteran director has chosen to mount a sequel to his Oscar-winning film, “Gladiator,” despite it sounding like a horrible idea. It should also come as no surprise that the movie is every bit the disappointment that fans were warning against, as “Gladiator II” proves to be a mostly unnecessary follow-up that doesn’t come close to matching the 2000 film. This is a movie that would have worked better as a standalone story, but instead, Scott and writer Peter Scarpa spend the bulk of the runtime bending over backwards to tie everything back to the original film in the most hackneyed way possible. Fortunately, the talented cast and epic battles just about keep it afloat, especially Denzel Washington, who is easily the best thing about the movie as the traitorous slave-turned-gladiator owner. Though “Gladiator II” isn’t as bad as some might suggest, its mediocrity is perhaps even more damning.
Extras include a making-of featurette, deleted scenes and more. FINAL VERDICT: RENT
Also Out This Week:
“Kraven the Hunter” — Sony’s Spider-Man Universe is finally dead, though it’s hard to blame “Kraven the Hunter” too much for that decision, as the writing has been on the wall for quite some time now. In fact, while “Kraven the Hunter” is not a good movie, it’s arguably one of the better films to come out of this disastrous endeavor, even if that’s not saying much. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is inspired casting in the title role (and it would be fun to watch him go toe-to-toe with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man), but everything around him is a hot mess, from the goofy flashback sequence that feels like a “Twilight” film to the decision to cram as many Spider-Man villains into the story as possible, almost as if Sony was wasting them on purpose. The film’s biggest problem, however, is that it’s yet another Spider-Man spinoff where the villain isn’t allowed to be a villain, once again exposing just how pointless this whole cinematic universe is without Spider-Man around to bring it to life. Extras include a collection of behind-the-scenes featurettes, some deleted scenes and outtakes. FINAL VERDICT: SKIP
“Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” — 2018’s “Den of Thieves” is a perfectly serviceable heist film for what it is, but it hardly demanded a sequel, especially one as unmemorable as “Pantera.” Gerard Butler is at least somewhat amusing as the rogue cop, chewing the scenery every chance he gets, but the same can’t be said of his bland co-star O’Shea Jackson Jr. The film itself is just as imbalanced. Though the final act contains some exciting moments during the climactic heist, the preceding 90 minutes are so dull that it sucks the life out of the whole endeavor. There’s absolutely no reason that “Pantera” needed to be this long, and the payoff simply isn’t worth sitting through the undercooked buildup. Extras include an audio commentary by writer/director Christian Gudegast, producer Tucker Tooley, editor Roberth Nordh and cinematographer Terry Stacey, as well as a behind-the-scenes featurette and some deleted scenes. FINAL VERDICT: SKIP
“Red One” — If there was any doubt that Dwayne Johnson’s star power has lost its shine, look no further than “Red One,” the latest flop in a growing line of commercial and critical disappointments for the actor. The Christmas-themed action-comedy reportedly cost $250 million to produce, yet you’d be hard-pressed to figure out where half of that money went. The script is credited to only two writers (“Fast and Furious” architect Chris Morgan and Johnson confidant Hiram Garcia), but it might as well have been written by a room full of caffeinated monkeys using ChatGPT because none of it makes a lick of sense. “Red One” feels like it was made by committee, and as such, it fails at pretty much everything it tries to do. Christmas movies are supposed to bring you joy, but the only joy you’ll experience is the relief you get when it’s finally over. FINAL VERDICT: SKIP
Disclosure: Bullz-Eye was provided a copy of the above titles for review purposes.
