Rating: 8.6
This movie is Ridley Scott’s best in years. It’s an extremely impressive, visceral and relentless historical epic, fitting in with other such as Gladiator or Braveheart! What really makes it stand out is the timely and very important discussions the film has regarding topics of sexual assault and rape. It’s a brilliant, relevant and difficult commentary on how society responds to sexual assault claims, and the problems that victims are faced with. It’s incredibly saddening to realize that these issues happening in the 1300s are no different today, and I respect Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for taking on this complex and important subject matter. Credit really has to be given to Nicole Holofcener though, she came in and really made sure the script dealt with the topics and themes in appropriate, yet striking and impactful ways. It’s a hard watch and highlights the terrible ways that society treats victims of sexual assault, from disbelief to even punishing them. It shows how society makes it very difficult for victims to come forward and tell people what happened. However I think it’s an important and relevant topic to cover and makes us reflect on current trends in society and what we can do to end this kind of treatment; a very interesting medieval epic in the age of MeToo. The film is a grand scale search for the truth, and it’s brilliantly written. I was excited to see Ben Affleck and Matt Damon teaming up again, not only starring but writing as well and wow did they ever do a good job with both sides! I thought the script was really well done, and loved the format of the three chapters detailing the events from three different perspectives. I thought it was brilliant in how it slowly pulled back the curtain, revealing the truth by the end. Getting to revisit all the different sequences was good (however some were very hard to rewatch), and I loved how the performances slightly changed depending on who’s perspective we were seeing the story from. It was a really engaging way of telling the story and allowed the audience to construct the truth in their head as we watched! It worked phenomenally for this movie, truly one of the best scripts of 2021. And the acting in this movie is absolutely phenomenal, everyone delivers some of their best work, and the movie really does feature the best performance of the year so far with Jodie Comer! She is brilliant in the film, able to communicate so much with just a look of her eyes or a facial expression. We feel her struggle and pain; she is what the audience is really able to connect to in the story. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Adam Driver are also all fantastic and take risks with their performances, but it’s really Jodie Comer who knocks it out of the park. Ridley Scott delivers his best work in a long time here, he comes back in full force and bringing back this gritty realism of war in medieval times as well as the brutality of it all. The action is also extremely intense and brutal… the titular duel at the end was truly the most violent and thrilling sequence I’ve seen on film in awhile. Every hit was shocking and I found myself gasping by the end - it’s excellently staged and uses the context of the story before it to heighten the tension so well. The film also has excellent production design and costuming, just top notch production value. Sound design and cinematography are perfect too, everything makes you feel like you really were transported into the past. Scott brings every element together so strikingly well to create one of the most well made films of 2021. It’s truly an excellent film, but an uncomfortable and tough watch due to its subject matter. But because it is an important and impactful watch, with some stunning performances and excellent filmmaking, I highly recommend this one.
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IMDb Rating: 7.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
RT Audience Score: 82%
Metacritic Score: 68
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20th Century Studios
Directed by Ridley Scott
Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener, Matt Damon & Ben Affleck
Based on the book by Eric Jager
Cast: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck, Harriet Walter, Alex Lawther
Runtime: 2hr 33min
Rating: 14A
Action, Drama, History
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A woman claims she's been raped by her husband's best friend, Jean de Carrouges. But when no one believes her accusation, her husband challenges his friend to a duel, the last legally sanctioned duel in the country's history. Inspired by true events.
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Fun Fact: The first movie that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have written together since Good Will Hunting (1997). Additionally, this is also the first movie that Matt Damon has written that was not directed by Gus Van Sant.
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