The Last Duel

2021 • 152 minutes

About this movie

Jodie Comer gives a stunning performance in this thought-provoking drama set against the brutality of 14th century France from visionary filmmaker Ridley Scott. Based on actual events, the film centers on the accusation by Marguerite de Carrouges (Comer) that she was brutally assaulted by Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), her husband Jean de Carrouges's (Matt Damon) friend. In order to protect his pride and prove his wife's claim, de Carrouges requests to fight Le Gris to the death. Now, all three lives hang in the balance in this society that holds that the victor of this grisly duel will be determined by God. Moreover, if de Carrouges dies in this fight, Marguerite will be put to death. Also starring Ben Affleck as Le Gris' scheming ally, the Count d'Alençon, this gripping, cinematic story is based on Eric Jager's book "The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France." THE LAST DUEL is a riveting, suspenseful tale about a courageous woman willing to risk her life in the service of truth.

Ratings and reviews

A glorious film with breathtaking set pieces, a powerful true story told well and epic moments. As the film plays over and over it does it in a fine sense, and the battpe scenes, drama, and The Last Duel in the film itself are all wonders. 4 to 4 and a half out of 5 all in all. I go with that rating for it, it fits a bit due to maybe certain silliness in the film and I think I just got to understand some of it a bit more or something.

I found this to be an extremely bad movie. I do not understand the praise. This is the most boring repetitious way I can think of to tell this story. They all lead to the exact same perception so the need to tell it like this just drags it out to a point I was wishing for my internet to go out so I did not have to sit through another 30 minute version of the exact same events. The actual dual ended up to be very well done, so I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 for the great 10 minute fight.

Last Duel feels very much like a harkening back to the days of Braveheart and other epics of the 90's and early 2000's. Big set pieces, spanning landscapes, violence... very nice to experience this in the modern era. The base material isn't as profound as something like a Braveheart or a Gladiator, but the execution with the source material is right up there... especially Adam Driver.