Film Review: ‘The Last Duel’: Director Ridley Scott Recounts a True Medieval Scandal

Ridley Scott’s drama “The Last Duel” is set during The Hundred Years War. Patrick Redmond / 20th Century Studios

R | 2h 32min | Action, Drama, History | 15 October 2021 (USA)

Based on the 2004 novel “The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France” by Eric Jager, “The Last Duel” is overflowing with virtually every filmmaking tool found in director Ridley Scott’s formidable creative wheelhouse.  You’ll notice nods to his debut effort “The Duellists,” as well as “Legend,” “Thelma and Louise,” “Gladiator,” “Kingdom of Heaven,” and “American Gangster.”

Keeping the Violence in Check

Always the thinking person’s action filmmaker, Scott is a master of presenting violence and gore without being gratuitous, and it always propels the narrative. In addition to the extended titular sequence which bookends the film, Scott includes a handful of battle scenes which hold nothing back. Soldiers suffer gruesome deaths which are in line with the period (the middle of The Hundred Years War) when everything takes place.