The Last Duel
Twentieth Century Fox | Release Date: October 15, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 50 Critic Reviews
Positive:
34
Mixed:
15
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyOct 23, 2021
The Last Duel is perfectly engrossing as a slice of historical intrigue, a clash of iron wills and iron swords, all muddied on the battlefields of medieval France. But there’s a tendency here for the film to present basic facts about contemporary gender politics as some earth-shattering revelation. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Mark KermodeOct 17, 2021
Despite a spirited performance from Comer and an impressive roster of supporting turns (including a scene-stealing Harriet Walter as Jean’s withering mother, Nicole), The Last Duel has a tendency to mirror its central battle’s attempts to address complex issues with the blunt tool of rabble-rousing spectacle. Read full review
60
CNNBrian LowryOct 14, 2021
A "Rashomon"-like tale that tells its story from different perspectives, this fact-based adaptation of Eric Jager's book is muddy, bloody and grim but too drawn out in filtering 14th-century feudal norms through a modern prism. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 14, 2021
Though flawed, its old-fashioned movie-making energy commands attention as well as its ingenious, if overextended three-act Rashomon structure, retelling the same story from three different standpoints, mostly without insisting on tricksy discrepancies. Read full review
60
SlateDana StevensOct 13, 2021
If Affleck and Driver at times appear to be on loan from a different, dopier movie, possibly one involving Monty Python, they both have such a cape-swooshing, mustache-twirling good time that it’s hard to blame them for going all in on their characters’ villainy. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinOct 11, 2021
It’s not the kind of historical drama you might expect from Ridley Scott, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And if its threefold perspective tests the patience, it at least gives the right character the final word. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenSep 27, 2021
The big challenge for The Last Duel is to depict a world in which women are marginalised and disempowered without doing the same thing to its female characters. Maybe it should have ceded more of its cold stone floor to Marguerite. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanSep 10, 2021
Despite a brief action interlude here or there, The Last Duel turns out to be a lavishly convoluted and, at times, rather interesting medieval soap opera. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 14, 2021
The Last Duel is often ponderous, and no wonder, given its ambitious but erratic script. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyOct 14, 2021
The best thing about The Last Duel is its very handsome look, courtesy of Scott’s go-to cinematographer, Dariusz Wolski. Read full review
50
Little White LiesRafaela Sales RossOct 14, 2021
The film feeds into the very power structure it sets out to debunk, a frustrating miss that threatens to cloud Comer’s poignant performance. Read full review
40
The New YorkerRichard BrodyOct 18, 2021
The most disturbing and dissonant aspect of The Last Duel involves the filming of the sexual crime at its center. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneDavid FearOct 13, 2021
The experience is not Rashomon Redux so much as enduring a bad rash. Read full review
40
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganSep 10, 2021
Whether it’s the sheer weight of the narrative repetition - which involves rewatching a brutal rape - or the two-men/one-woman perspective, which results in an underwritten character and a strained performance from Comer, The Last Duel is crushed by the weight of its own armour. Read full review
40
The GuardianJonathan RomneySep 10, 2021
An all-star cast and some showstoppingly horrible hair can’t save Ridley Scott’s medieval epic. Read full review
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