'The Last Duel' doesn't disappoint, but the lengthy buildup to it does

"The Last Duel" of the title doesn't disappoint in director Ridley Scott's latest period epic, but the protracted buildup to it somewhat does. 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.

In addition to Scott, whose most pertinent credentials for these purposes include "Gladiator" (successfully) and "Kingdom of Heaven" (considerably less so), the film was written and produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. In an intriguing division of labor, the longtime colleagues collaborated on the script with independent writer-director Nicole Holofcener, who worked on the portion told from the woman's point of view.

As constructed, that would be one of three distinct chapters, in a movie that runs more than 2 ½ hours, building toward the last sanctioned duel in France in 1386. The contest pitted a knight, Jean de Carrouges (Damon), against the perfectly named Jacques Le Gris (the ubiquitous Adam Driver), seeking justice after Carrouges' wife Marguerite ("Killing Eve's" Jodie Comer) accused her husband's one-time comrade in arms of raping her.