Gladiator II has been getting a lot of attention recently as the long-awaited sequel to a classic, but Ridley Scott directed an even better historical epic a few years ago that was criminally underrated, The Last Duel — and it’s currently streaming on Hulu. A couple of weeks ago, Gladiator II made its streaming debut on Paramount+, so audiences who missed it in theaters have been catching up on it and audiences who did see it in theaters are rewatching it and reevaluating it. The Gladiator sequel is the latest in a long line of historical epics directed by Scott.
While he’s come under fire for his lax approach to historical accuracy, Scott has been rightly praised for his ability to bring historical settings to life and stage thrilling large-scale battle sequences. Napoleon is a darkly comic character study that presents a notorious tyrant as a petulant child. Kingdom of Heaven is a riveting portrayal of the Crusades whose shortcomings were rectified in a brilliant director’s cut. Gladiator II is Scott’s latest foray into the genre, and marks his return to the swords-and-sandals world of his earlier masterpiece, Gladiator. It was successful, but Scott helmed an even better epic recently.
Ridley Scott Made A Better Historical Epic 4 Years Before Gladiator 2
The Last Duel Is One Of Scott’s Best Recent Movies
Four years before pulling the trigger on his long-gestating sequel to Gladiator, Scott directed an even better historical epic, 2021’s The Last Duel. The Last Duel revolves around the last officially sanctioned duel in French history. Matt Damon leads the cast of The Last Duel as Sir Jean de Carrouges, a celebrated knight who’s often sent away into battle. Jodie Comer plays his neglected wife, Marguerite de Carrouges, and Adam Driver plays his fellow squire, Jacques le Gris. While Jean is out at war, Jacques breaks into Marguerite’s home and Sєxually ᴀssaults her.
The Last Duel marked Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s first screenwriting collaboration since their Oscar-winning script for Good Will Hunting. They co-wrote The Last Duel with Nicole Holofcener, who brought a much-needed female perspective to the story.
The Last Duel has a Rashomon-style structure telling the same story from three different perspectives: first from Jean’s jealous, patriarchal perspective, then from Jacques’ disgustingly unscrupulous perspective, and finally from the most important perspective of all, Marguerite’s. It’s a poignant exploration of the modern conversations around the #MeToo movement through a medieval lens. Although it didn’t get the recognition it deserved when it was released (following a lengthy COVID-related delay), The Last Duel is easily one of Scott’s best recent movies. It’s up there with The Martian as one of his finest efforts from the past decade.
Gladiator 2’s Box Office Didn’t Fully Make Up For The Last Duel
Gladiator 2 Did Well, But Not As Well As Expected
It’s no secret that Scott has had some struggles at the box office in recent years, and The Last Duel was a major example of that. The Last Duel was a full-blown box office bomb, grossing a paltry $26 million worldwide against a hefty production budget of $100 million. With plenty of hype and a mᴀssive marketing push from the studio, Gladiator II was expected to mark a box office comeback for Scott. It did better than The Last Duel, but it still wasn’t a bona fide blockbuster like one would expect from a legacy sequel to a classic movie.
Gladiator II’s global box office haul was $460.5 million, which fell just short of the first movie’s worldwide gross of $465.5 million. That might sound like a decent gross, but there’s been a lot of inflation in the past 25 years. Gladiator II’s gross is much less impressive in 2024 dollars than Gladiator’s gross was in 2000 dollars. Plus, Gladiator II had a much bigger budget than its predecessor. With a production cost of $250 million, Gladiator II had a break-even point of around $500 million, so it may not have turned a profit.
Hopefully, Ridley Scott Keeps Making Historical Epics
Scott Is A Master Of This Genre
Scott is a true master of the historical epic genre. Hopefully, he’ll keep coming back to the genre — and, hopefully, studios will keep giving him the budget to do so. It takes a lot of money to pull off battle scenes like the ones seen in The Last Duel, Gladiator II, and Napoleon, but it’s worth it to see those battle scenes projected onto a giant screen, with the sounds of cannons firing, horses galloping, and swords clashing blaring out of the speakers.
Ridley Scott has started developing a story for Gladiator III, so he’s entertaining the idea of sticking around in this cinematic sandbox.
Throughout his career, Scott has nailed plenty of genres. He’s helmed sci-fi classics like Blade Runner and Alien, as well as contemporary thrillers like Thelma & Louise and Black Hawk Down. But the historical epic seems to be the genre he’s best suited to (shaky historical accuracy aside), and The Last Duel proves it. Scott has started developing a story for Gladiator III, so he’s entertaining the idea of sticking around in this cinematic sandbox.
