Every Ridley Scott Movie, Now Including Gladiator II, Ranked From Worst To Best

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There isn’t a Hollywood director with a sense of scale, scope, and range quite like Ridley Scott.

For five decades and counting, Scott has made himself synonymous with major studio maximalism and epic panache. Scott’s widescreen frames brilliantly capture our universal feelings and anxieties and blows them all up in spectacular fashion. Even when his execution falls short of his reputation – and admittedly, they do so more often than not – a mediocre Scott film demands more attention than a perfectly fine whatever else.

With Gladiator II now in theaters, it’s a good time to reflect on his extensive body of work. Here are all 29 movies directed by Ridley Scott’s, ranked from worst to best:

Exhibiting some of Ridley Scott’s worst tendencies, the 1992 historical drama 1492: Conquest of Paradise is so poorly executed that it might make you sympathize with flat earthers. While Scott’s camera captures a staged rendition of Christopher Columbus’ expedition to the New World with operatic grandeur, there’s no substance behind its sails. The film is merely a string of shots, each resembling a glorified screensaver, featuring a saltwater-soaked Gérard Depardieu aimlessly wandering in colonial cosplay. This critique isn’t about how monstrous the real Columbus was or the film’s gross mythologizing of historical atrocities—it’s simply a dull, uninspired movie with nothing meaningful to say.

Here’s Scott operating at his usual maximum decibels, a big budget escapist piece for grownups that were falling out of favor amid Marvel’s rise to power. Unfortunately, Exodus’ bloated excess, melodramatic incoherence, and overall 300-ification of a story other filmmakers of years past have beautifully told already make it among the weakest entries in Scott’s prolific oeuvre.

This should’ve worked. It’s Sir Anthony Hopkins returning to one of his most famous roles in a sequel helmed by one of the preeminent studio auteurs of the time. Instead, Hannibal is a sequel far too schizophrenic to know what kind of horror movie it wants to be and too unambitious to compete with its predecessor, Jonathan Demme’s handsome Silence of the Lambs.

It’s painful to think about Robin Hood when you remember the movie it almost was. In the original Nottingham script by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, the story took a fresh approach with a more sympathetic Sheriff, an amoral Robin Hood, … Read More