The Last Duel

Directed by Ridley Scott, The Last Duel details the fight to the death that ensues between knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) after the former’s wife (Jodie Comer’s Marguerite) accuses the latter of rape. Filmmaker Scott, armed with Damon, Ben Affleck, and Nicole Holofcener’s screenplay, delivers a sporadically compelling yet ultimately disappointing endeavor that would’ve fared much, much better had it been streamlined considerably, which is a shame, undoubtedly, as the picture gets off to a relatively promising start and boasts a compelling (and relatively brisk) first half rife with engaging sequences and entertaining performances – with, in terms of the latter, Scott eliciting scene-stealing work from his stars and periphery players. (And it’s certainly difficult to resist the fun, unexpectedly lighthearted chemistry between Driver’s Le Gris and Affleck’s Count Pierre d’Alençon.) It’s clear, then, that The Last Duel‘s watchable atmosphere slowly-but-surely evaporates as it moves into an increasingly static second half, as the film is eventually dominated by a series of sluggish and padded-out dialogue-based sequences that drain the viewer’s interest to a fairly disastrous degree – which, in turn, ensures that the inevitable climactic duel is hardly able to pack the visceral, exciting punch Scott has obviously intended. (It doesn’t help, either, that this portion of the proceedings features needlessly cruel horse-related happenings.) The final result is a woefully hit-and-miss endeavor that is, to a progressively distressing extent, more miss than hit, with the movie’s failure especially regrettable given its promising opening stretch and proliferation of undeniably agreeable elements.

** out of ****