Ridley Scott has made a classic in every decade of his career. Scott began his filmmaking career helming commercials, where he developed his distinctive eye for visuals. Ridley Scott’s movies are renowned for their lush visuals and epic scale, and he’s one of the most imitated filmmakers of his era.
Ridley Scott’s sci-fi movies, for instance, changed the genre forever. Even into his 80s, Scott is a workhorse, often already in pre-production on his next movie while filming the current one. Currently, Scott has Gladiator 3, a Western called Freewalkers and a biopic of the Bee Gees in development.
Scott’s prolific output can yield mixed results. The belated Gladiator 2 was a disappointment to many, as was House of Gucci. Still, when Scott hits, he really hits, and if the price is the occasional dud, that’s fair. Scott has worked across six decades and always turns up one classic during that time – and occasionally more than one.
Alien (1979)
The success of Star Wars led to studios greenlighting any project that involved space, including a grisly little B-movie called Alien. This haunted house in space tale involved the crew of a spaceship discovering an alien lifeform – and being picked off one by one. It’s a story that’s been ripped off a thousand times, but Scott’s original remains the GOAT.
Alien is the rare time that every decision worked out for a movie; the casting is perfect, H.R. Giger’s creature designs are groundbreaking, the script is a finely tuned suspense generator and Scott’s taut direction is a masterclass. Some of the effects have aged poorly and it’s been so overexposed it’s no longer as terrifying, but it’s still a classic.
The amount of rip-offs it generated – not to mention the Alien movie franchise itself – proves how game-changing it was. It was only Scott’s second movie, where he took a silly creature feature and made it one of the landmarks of the entire genre.
Blade Runner (1982)
Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) holding a bird in Blade Runner 1982.
Blade Runner was a famously troubled production, where Scott clashed with lead Harrison Ford and his producers, and its original theatrical release was compromised with a bad voiceover. It took time for it to be reappraised, with the release of Scott’s 1991 Director’s Cut making people realize that, yes, it’s a masterpiece.
Ridley Scott considers 2007’s Blade Runner: The Final Cut to be the definitive version of the film.
The influence of Scott’s vision of the future in Blade Runner can still be felt now, in movies like Ghost in the Shell or shows like (ironically) Alien: Earth. Critics accused its incredible production design of masking a hollow story, but the film is rich with themes and meaning.
It explores questions of creator vs created and what makes us human, and fans are still puzzling over Blade Runner’s ambiguous ending – despite Scott giving a definitive answer to the whole “Is Deckard a replicant?” debate. With Alien and Blade Runner, Scott redefined the sci-fi genre for decades to come.
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Surandon as Louise sitting in their car in the finale of Thelma & Louise.
Scott was coming off the back of macho action thrillers like Black Rain when he came to Thelma & Louise. This touching thriller follows Geena Davis’ Thelma and Susan Sarandon’s Louise, two friends whose road trip turns to murder and an extended police chase.
Scott brings his signature visuals and style to the film, but alongside his later effort G.I. Jane, it’s one of his most feminist works. It’s a film that would be tediously dismissed as “woke” now, with the story focused on the bond between two women who have been kicked around by life and their relationships with men.
They decide to take it no longer, with even the ending of Thelma & Louise seeing the duo choosing how their story ends. Despite its darker themes, it’s also a heartfelt and joyful ride, and while the 1990s were a spotty period for Scott, this is easily his best work from that decade.
Gladiator (2000)
Russell Crowe as Maximus in the gladiatorial ring in Gladiator.
Scott’s tepid 1990s run blossomed into an incredible comeback during the early 2000s. Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down and Kingdom of Heaven all arrived within a five year period, with all being huge successes and (largely) critical hits. While the Director’s Cut of Kingdom of Heaven comes real close, Gladiator is Scott’s MVP of the 2000s.
It made a star of Russell Crowe, (briefly) revived the long-dead swords and sandals genre, and told an emotional story filled with great action and vivid characters. Like Alien before it, it’s a movie where every single choice was the right one, from casting right down to production design.
The best action movies linger when they have a strong emotional core, which Scott’s Gladiator definitely has. In all the ways Gladiator 2 failed to hit the mark – aside from Denzel Washington devouring the scenery – the original is an endlessly rewatchable classic.
The Martian (2015)
Matt Damon in an astronaut outfit in The Martian.
The 2010s were another hit and miss affair for Ridley Scott, kicking off with the underwhelming Robin Hood and also featuring one of his worst efforts, Exodus: Gods and Kings. It did yield The Martian though, and the film broke Scott’s tendency to make dark, existential thrillers by telling a witty, moving story of human perseverance.
Based on the bestselling novel, The Martian follows Matt Damon’s astronaut as he’s accidentally stranded on Mars and has to find a way to survive on the planet while waiting years for a rescue. While the film never loses sight of his struggle, the relentless optimism and invention of Damon’s Watney make it uplifting.
The Martian has an unbelievably stacked cast too, including Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Sebastian Stan, Sean Bean and many more. With Alien, Blade Runner and The Martian, Scott made the best trilogy of sci-fi films of any director in the genre.
The Last Duel (2021)
Matt Damon looking up and to the right in The Last Duel
It’s a sad reality of modern journalism that a movie’s quality often gets conflated with its quality. Scott’s The Last Duel is a good case in point. It’s the best movie Scott has made since The Martian, but its box-office failure and the reasons for it were the only things articles focused on in 2021.
This R-rated historical thriller follows France’s last trial by combat between Sir Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and friend turned bitter enemy, Jacques le Gris (Adam Driver). The Last Duel is told with a Rashomon-style structure, where the same events are viewed (and recontextualized) from different perspectives.
Given that it’s a Ridley Scott movie, The Last Duel obviously looks great, and the ensemble all do top work – even if some of the accents don’t come off great. It was made by adults for adults, but sadly, it didn’t find an audience during its initial release. Unlike Blade Runner, the film quickly found a fanbase, though.
Headshot Of Ridley Scott In The Premiere of ‘Napoleon’ at The Prado Museum
0 Comments