The Last Duel (2021)

Excellent perfomances elevate meandering script which also drags a little and doesn't fully justify its structure. But scenes that work are really impressive, especially the last duel. Jodie Comer is a real standout with a nuanced perfomance that should get a lot of awards attention. All in all a perfectly fine movie but nothing you haven't seen before.

Fmovies: After Good Will Hunting I was shocked why Ben Affleck and Matt Damon didn't write any screenplay together. Well, our wait is over because they have done a brave move, but this time it doesn't have that Hollywood storytelling vibe on it. This time, it is more experimental and different, they went for a new storytelling wave. (with help of Nicole Holofcener) Best director you can find for this kind of visual storytelling is Ridley Scott, and believe me, he's still top of his game. To be honest I don't think that Gladiator was a best picture because of Ridley's effort, I think it was Russel's incredible performance. But this movie shines because of Ridley's awesome visual style.

To talk about performances in this movie, Jodie has the lead, she can get awards buzz after this film. She plays her character from different perspectives, it is not an easy thing to do but Jodie does it beautifuly. Matt Damon makes his mark, after Ben Affleck's drop from the other lead role Adam Diver tooks it and I got to say it is an impressive casting, because, as a antagonist Adam has that villain look real good. Ben Affleck steals the show everytime he is on the screen, just like in Good Will Hunting his side character is real fun to watch.

Overall it is really a brave movie, Hollywood doesn't make these kinds of movies, but they should make these kinds of auteur movies more...

The performances are excellent, the script while at times repetitive is still interesting to follow. The issue is that Scott probably did not have much to work with to develop it into an elaborate story, however he still delivers a film that needs to be watched. I would strongly recommend this to anyone who likes Scott's work, and has some love for history, since the attention paid to detail is on an unbelievably high level.

The Last Duel fmovies. Seen the film at a screening at the Venice Film Festival.

Even if there is no way of telling that what The Last Duel portrays is entirely how the events took place, or as authentic as it seems to be in depicting middle ages, one thing is certain: it belongs to Ridley Scott's better works, and proves that the 84-year-old filmmaker is still able to deliver memorable films.

The dramatization takes on a three act narrative frame that resembles partly that of Kurosawa's masterpiece Rashomon: three chapters narrate the events, each from the point of view of one of the three protagonists, the two duellists and Marguerite.

The film clearly seeks a historical authenticity, and seems to succeed at achieving it. The almost word-by-word, blow-by-blow adherence to the accounts of the duel seem to confirm such an achievement, and is in a way reminiscent of Scott's debut film The Duellists, known for its methodical reconstruction.

The true essence of this film's stance is the idea that through the study of history more can be learnt about the contemporary world, the past as a mirror of the present.

The Last Duel is, in the end, a film that deals with the present by showing the past, and does so in an exquisite and entertaining fashion.

(extract from my review on comeandreview)