The Last Duel

The Last Duel is an 2021 historical action drama-thriller film directed by Ridley Scott. Based on the book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager, the screenplay is written by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Nicole Holofcener. Damon stars in the lead role opposite Adam Driver and Jodie Comer, with Affleck in a supporting role.

Plot
Jean de Carrouges is a respected knight known for his bravery and skill on the battlefield. Jacques Le Gris is a squire whose intelligence and eloquence makes him one of the most admired nobles in court. When Le Gris viciously assaults Carrouges' wife, she steps forward to accuse her attacker, an act of bravery and defiance that puts her life in jeopardy. The ensuing trial by combat, a grueling duel to the death, places the fate of all three in God's hands.

Why It's Not The Last Duel After All

 * 1) Ridley Scott is back to directed another great films. He challenges audience by presenting the film in a non-traditional narrative structure broken into three segments showing us the story from the perspectives of Damon, Driver, and Comer's characters.
 * 2) Harry Gregson-Williams composed a very neat medieval-ish soundtrack for the film, the crowner possibly being "Celui Que Je Désire"
 * 3) Matt Damon and Adam Driver's performance as Sir Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris is fantastic, while Jodie Comer's performance is the best that steals every scene in the movie.
 * 4) One supporting cast, Ben Affleck's performance as Pierre was largely praised as an unexpected and welcome source of comic relief in the movie, to the point that him getting nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award elicited reactions of He Panned It, Now He Sucks! towards the Razzies.
 * 5) Breathtaking storyline. Showcasing a scenario from three different perspectives has always been a genius idea, its interesting, intriguing and overall always feels like it makes for a rather unique experience and draws inspiration of Rashomon, despite having been done countless times.
 * 6) Very intense moments:
 * 7) * The rape in question is portrayed as extremely brutal with Marguerite fleeing in terrified panic from Jacques, trying desperately to stop him, screaming "No!" repeatedly and clearly in pain the whole time.
 * 8) *If Jean loses the duel against Jaques, Marguerite will be tortured and burned alive and it's mentioned that it can take as long as twenty to thirty minutes of unimaginable agony to die in such a way.

Bad Quality

 * 1) Overlong runtime.

Reception
The Last Duel received positive reviews, who praised the performances of the cast and production values, and likened it to the Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon (1950). On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 85% of 261 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "The Last Duel's critique of systemic misogyny isn't as effective as it might have been, but it remains a well-acted and thought-provoking drama infused with epic grandeur.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on 50 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it a 72% positive score.

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