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The Last Duel

The Last Duel

2021

Ridley Scott

Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck ...

7.0

22,823

Drama. Mystery Based on actual events, the film unravels long-held assumptions about France’s last sanctioned duel between Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris, two friends turned bitter rivals. When Carrouges’ wife, Marguerite, is viciously assaulted by Le Gris, a charge he denies, she refuses to stay silent, stepping forward to accuse her attacker, an act of bravery and defiance that puts her life in jeopardy. The ensuing trial by combat, a ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Owen Gleiberman Variety	"What’s appealing about 'The Last Duel' is that it’s actually, at heart, a rather old-fashioned movie (...) What’s odd about it is that it lacks the satisfying dramatic clarity of an old movie"	NEU
United States	Ben Croll IndieWire	"[It] reveals itself as something all too rare on the current Hollywood field of battle: an intelligent and genuinely daring big budget melee that is — above all else — the product of recognizable artistic collaboration"	POS
United States	David Rooney The Hollywood Reporter	"[It] is the affecting story of one woman’s quiet heroism that requires you to wade through a lot of blustery accounts of the honor, the pride and the wars of men in order to get to it. Which is kind of like perpetuating the patriarchy"	NEU
United Kingdom	Ryan Leston Telegraph	"Jodie Comer confirms she is a bona fide film star (...) A historical epic that even those usually wary of the genre should enjoy (...) Rating: ★★★★ (over 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Jonathan Romney The Guardian	"An all-star cast and some showstoppingly horrible hair can’t save Ridley Scott’s medieval epic (...) Neither memorable nor productive (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Jessica Kiang The Playlist	"Enjoyable (...) Starry, surprisingly engaging 'Rashomon'-inflected"	POS
United States	Asher Luberto The Wrap	"Great performances and stunning cinematography can’t save a would-be 'Rashomon' that forfeits its ambiguity"	NEU
United States	Rafael Motamayor Collider	"The Last Duel brings the most brutal sword-fight scenes in decades, proving that no one really does it like Sir Ridley Scott when it comes to medieval period pieces (...) a poignant exploration of power and gender"	POS
United Kingdom	Fionnuala Halligan Screendaily	"[It] is crushed by the weight of its own armour (...) It hews more closely to Scott’s 'Gladiator' with its warrior iconography and duel-to-the-death, while lacking any of that award-winning film’s heart"	NEG
United States	Ryan Leston IGN	"The Last Duel is a masterclass in slow-burn storytelling, allowing its complex plot to unfold naturally over three distinct chapters (...) The Last Duel is a gruelling watch and certainly not for the faint-hearted"	POS
United States	Glenn Kenny rogerebert.com	"It all leads up to the title duel which, even by the high standards set by Scott's 'Gladiator', is what you'd call a humdinger (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Phil de Semlyen Time Out	"Overly muscular historical epic (...) [Its] big challenge is to depict a world in which women are marginalised and disempowered without doing the same thing to its female characters (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
Canada	Mel Valentin Screen Anarchy	"Thanks to a committed cast delivering their next-level-best (Comer and Affleck stand out the most), it works more often than not, sometimes resoundingly so"	POS
United States	Johnny Oleksinski New York Post	"Take away all writing utensils from Damon and Affleck's homes. Leave no laptop, typewriter, pen, pencil, quill or telegraph behind. Batman and Jason Bourne must be stopped (…) Rating: ★ (out of 4)"	NEG
United Kingdom	Dan Jolin Empire	"Not the historical drama you might expect from Scott, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If its threefold perspective tests the patience, it at least gives the right character the final word (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Hong Kong	James Mottram South China Morning Post	"A resonant drama about truth, lies and belief (...) [Scott] doesn’t hold back on the violence (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
	David Katz Cineuropa	"The sense of a palpable, immersive medieval world always convinces, yet the attention to plot and coherence is more careless"	NEU

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