The Last Duel review

THE LAST DUEL: 

RIDLEY SCOTT’S LATEST EPIC IS AS THOUGHT-PROVOKING AS IT IS EXHILARATING! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY STUDIOS

Ben Affleck, Jodie Comer, Adam Driver, and Matt Damon in The Last Duel

 

            Director, Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, The Martian) returns to his epic filmmaking ways in The Last Duel, a historical drama based on the 2004 book of the same name by Eric Jager which chronicles the true events of Jean de Carrouges, a knight in medieval France who challenges his friend-turned-enemy and squire, Jacques Le Gris to not just a duel, but the last legally sanctioned duel in France’s history. I’m not overly familiar with the actual story nor have I read the book so I’m going into this film as a moviegoer and a fan of Ridley Scott’s previous epics such as Gladiator and the Director’s Cut of Kingdom of Heaven. 

            Given the epic scale and emotional depth of some of his previous films, how does The Last Duel hold up compared to them? I think it’s good! 

            I don’t think it’s quite on par with some of Scott’s other movies and I do have some issues with the narrative and pacing, but I found this to be a very solid entry in his filmography with some excellent acting and an interesting balance between a powerful historical drama and a swashbuckling epic. What’s really interesting about this movie is that it’s told from three different perspectives and is broken up into three chapters which may throw some people off if they only saw the trailers and didn’t read up on how the film is structured. 

            Set in 1386 France, the film chronicles the lives of knight, Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon-Bourne franchise, The Departed, The Martian) and squire, Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver-Star Wars sequel trilogy, BlacKkKlansman, Marriage Story) and the events leading up to a duel to the death between Carrouges and Gris after Carrouges’ wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer-Killing Eve, My Mad Fat Diary, Free Guy) accuses Gris of raping her. The events leading up to the duel are broken up into three chapters with the first two revolving around Carrouges and Gris while the third focuses on Marguerite with themes such as sexism, abuse, and systemic misogyny all leading up to a gruesome but historic duel. 

            The film also stars Ben Affleck (The Town, Argo, Gone Girl) as Count Pierre d’Alençon, Harriet Walter (Sense and Sensibility, Atonement, Rocketman) as Nicole de Buchard, Nathaniel Parker (Hamlet (1990), The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Merlin) as Sir Robert de Thibouville, Sam Hazeldine (The Monuments Men, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, The Hitman’s Bodyguard) as Thomin du Bois, Michael McElhatton (Albert Nobbs, Game of Thrones, Togo) as Bernard Latour, Alex Lawther (Howard’s End, The End of the F***ing World, Goodbye Christopher Robin) as King Charles VI, Marton Csokas (XXX, Kingdom of Heaven, The Equalizer) as Crespin, Oliver Cotton (Son of the Pink Panther, Steamboy, Wonder Woman 1984) as Jean de Carrouges III, Željko Ivanek (Oz, 24, Heroes) as Le Coq, Clive Russell (King Arthur (2004), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Game of Thrones) as King’s Uncle, and Adam Nagaitis (The Terror, Chernobyl, Suffragette) as Adam Louvel. 

            Overall, The Last Duel may not be one of Ridley Scott’s strongest work, but it is arguably his most relevant as it covers some very serious topics that are still being discussed today, the most obvious one being misogyny. As previously mentioned, I’m not familiar with the actual story, but I found the film as well as its message to be quite effective and transfixing. 

            I can understand that a film told from multiple perspectives with a lot of rewinding may be a turnoff point for some viewers especially when the film itself is long (Like this one) and at times the pacing can be slow, but it was never to a point where I felt bored. I was excited during the battle sequences, invested in the plot, and flat-out disturbed during…those scenes, and all the reactions the film got out of me felt earned.

            For the most part, I was into the whole three perspectives structure with this film, even though at times it can get a little repetitive seeing some of the same scenes over and over again. I like how the perspectives tell a different side of the story and shrouds the main characters in mystery, like what if Damon’s character was kind of a prick to his wife or how about one where Marguerite is mildly attracted to Driver’s Gris character as he’s going to town? You’re never really sure which side of the story is true, and it will likely lead to some very interesting conversations and debates between your fellow film buff friends. 

            The acting is superb, Matt Damon as this knight who’s outraged that his wife has been sexually assaulted by not only a squire but one who happened to be his best friend, he plays the part very well, Adam Driver is both electrifying and unnerving as Jacques Le Gris, the man who raped Carrouges’ wife and I like how half of him is this sick, despicable man while the other half is this lost, confused individual who wants to do what he think is right, but unlike Kylo Ren in Star Wars, I can’t see his character in this getting any sort of redemption for his actions. Jodie Comer in my opinion is the standout performance in this film as Marguerite, she has this commanding, almost authoritative presence whenever she’s onscreen and all throughout the film you want to her to see justice served because of what Gris did to her, I can see her as a potential Oscar nominee next year and rightfully so. 

            I thought this was a really solid entry in Ridley Scott’s filmography, but The Last Duel isn’t without its flaws. Other than the three-perspective structure being a little repetitive, the film itself is quite long (Clocking in at about 2 hours and 33 minutes) and there is a good 30 minutes of the film that drags on for a while and could have been trimmed down, had the film been a little shorter and better paced, I think this could have been on par with Gladiator, but as is it’s still a really good movie with a few overly drawn-out scenes. 

            Also, while there are some spectacular battle sequences in this film, they are very few and far between so if you’re going into this and expecting a big, action-packed blockbuster, this might be a bit too long and slow for you. 

            The Last Duel may not be one of Ridley Scott’s best films, but it could easily go down in history as his most relevant film because of its subject matter and timely message. It’s an interesting balance between powerful historical drama and epic medieval war film with gorgeous scenery and phenomenal acting from the cast, this is one “Duel” you’ll never forget.