PMPF Review: ‘The School Duel’

“The Purge” franchise pummeled Christian conservatives, but it carried a premise that made a whiff of sense.

What if the U.S. government allowed citizens to live out their violent fantasies for one day a year to let off cultural steam?

“The School Duel” suggests a slightly similar gimmick, and it’s far more aggressive in targeting Christian conservatives (and the Free State of Florida, for good measure). It might as well be an in-kind DNC contribution.

Except this indie thriller doesn’t make a convincing argument, and its nonstop messaging interrupts otherwise solid filmmaking.

The story is set in a near-future America that plays out as if Joy Reid’s wildest fears about you-know-who actually came to pass.

Gun control is no more. School shootings are on the rise. And traditional values now run wild across the culture. Or, at least, the Sunshine State.

The horror, the horror, according to writer/director Todd Wiseman, Jr.

Young Sam (Kue Lawrence, terrific in a demanding role) is small for his age, and his schoolmates let him know it. His father, a military veteran, is dead, and Sam desperately needs a male role model.

He starts watching dude-bro podcasters to gain tips on masculinity. It might be the most effective part of the film.

That subtle touch doesn’t last long.

Sam crosses paths with a school bully, and before you know it, the lad has been targeted by smarmy school officials for the School Duel program. The contest pits male students against each, in a similar way to Stephen King’s “The Long Walk.”

It’s a duel to the death, with the losers becoming martyrs for the country. Wait … what? The film attempts to explain the event’s rationale, but it doesn’t compute. At all.

Pint-sized Sam seems a lousy match for the competition, but that’s no accident.

“The School Due” lays the messaging on thick, from constant shots of the American flag to repetitive dialogue touching on God, patriotism and guns. The score is occasionally chilling, but often interrupted by hokey, “American, F*** yeah” needle drops.

Yes, conservatives love the Second Amendment, but the way these characters worship firepower is so over the top any satirical impact is dulled mid-film.

And it’s just warming up.

“If you’re quiet, you’re being complicit, I feel” – Oscar Nuñez on playing a Republican governor in The School Duel, and the urgent situation in the US today https://t.co/00ojIUFtFD #Fantasia2025 pic.twitter.com/AqJPCqBLD7

— Eye For Film (@EyeForFilm) July 20, 2025

Broad satire registers when it’s backed by wisdom or truth. “The School Duel” feels like a film created by people who never cracked a conservative news source or considered their perspectives. Ever.

It’s akin to Alec Baldwin playing President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live.” The rage radiates off the screen, but where are the sobering truths?

Wiseman’s film is shot in sturdy black and white, which adds a curious urgency to the material. He’s coaxed fine performances out of his cast. That includes “Office” alum Oscar Nuñez, surprisingly effective as the gruff Florida governor and Michael Sean Tighe as Sam’s duel “counselor.”

Tighe brings a sinister edge to the material. It’s reminiscent of Sean Penn’s fiery figure in “One Battle After Another,” but Tighe shrewdly lets his character’s humanity sneak through.

Naturally, the few black characters in “The School Duel” are either noble or conflicted about the state of play, a woke tic the filmmaker couldn’t see from inside his ideological bubble.

Still, Sam’s journey isn’t dull at first, and the story deserves credit for being brazen and original. Sure, you could say it channels the spirit of “The Hunger Games” or the aforementioned “Purge,” but it’s still a unique tale told with passion.

That counts for something in today’s reboot-happy Hollywood.

The film’s partisan attacks grow stale soon enough, and the titular Duel is neither exciting nor revealing. We barely get to know the protagonists, unlike King’s superior “Long Walk.”

We’ll assume this dystopian Florida never considered arming teachers, a program that currently boasts a 100 percent success rate in preventing school shootings.

And it’s hard to hear a progressive film’s gun lectures when Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies are crushing lives from coast to coast. Think light sentencing fiascos, open border chaos and cashless bail tragedies.

Spare us. Please.

“The School Duel” played at 2025’s Pittsburgh Moving Picture Festival but has no official release date as of yet.

HiT or Miss: “The School Duel” takes a bold concept and drowns it in partisan talking points.