The Last Duel is the new film by Ridley Scott and stars Matt Damon as a French War Hero in 14th Century France who’s wife (Jodie Comer) is brutally raped by another French knight (Adam Driver) who also happens to have the ear of the local Count (Ben Affleck), to put these accusations to rest a duel to the death is performed between the two knights and only one will triumph.
I was kind of keen for this movie as Sir Ridley Scott is one of my 5 favourite filmmakers working today (the others being Edgar Wright, Christopher Nolan, Greta Gerwig and Taika Waititi) and Damon and Affleck are back writing a new script together since their Oscar win for Good Will Hunting and are joined by Nicole Holofcener in the writing team and it has a great cast between Affleck, Damon, Driver and Comer.
Alas sadly it was something of a disappointment to me for as always with a Ridley Scott film this is a gorgeous film to look at, there are many scenes of snow falling on landscapes, big battle scenes, huge castles, beautiful medieval costumes and flags and it all looks beautiful on a big cinema screen.
But as BBC film critic Mark Kermode noted when he reviewed Alien: Covenant in 2017 “Ridley Scott is only as good as the script that he’s working from” and this script despite a talented writing team feels very dreary and dull to watch for most of the films 2 and a half hour running time and after a while not only did I start to get bored but I began to think back to an early Ridley Scott film called Legend with Tom Cruise, Mia Sara and Tim Curry and that film like this one has beautiful visuals but a dull script.
And one of the big reasons it all feels dreary and dull is down to the performances, Matt Damon is someone I can more or less take or leave in movies but here he just stands around or sits down with this constant scowl on his face that I just got sick of looking at after a while, Adam Driver is a terrific actor one of this best working today but even he comes across as a little monotone at times while Jodie Comer who I liked in Free Guy earlier this year gets the best script moments but by the time the films fragmented structure gets around to focusing on her it all feels a little too late as it makes little difference to make this film feel worthwhile despite its beautiful visuals and important subject matter.
One exception to this however is Ben Affleck, every time he opened his mouth I started pissing myself laughing in my cinema seat but in a good way as remarkably this works and it feels like this movie comes alive when he’s on screen and in a very strange way I keep thinking of Peter Ustinov when he voiced Prince John in the Disney animated Robin Hood from 1973, I know this all sounds very strange but this is a strange performance that really works.
And so that was the Last Duel and this Duel was a disappointment despite Affleck’s committed performance and some nice visuals, 2 out of 5.
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