• The Last Duel marks Ridley Scott’s thirteen (13th) archiveable film and it comes at age 84. Scott was going for a sort of Spielberg-like twofer in 2021 with The Last Duel and House of Gucci. They are both worth seeking out and are entertaining- but without a doubt, The Last Duel is the superior work.
  • The film is famously co-written by the screenwriting team of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. This is their first screenplay together since 1997’s Good Will Hunting– the film that won them Oscars helped launch them into stardom. Here they make the shrewd move of getting director/writer Nicole Holofcener to share screenwriting duties. Holofcener helps write the female perspective- the role of Marguerite de Carrouges played by Jodie Comer- certainly one of the best aspects of the film.
  • The Last Duel is told in three distinct strands. The fact that each of the strands is a retelling of the same events from three distinct points of view or character’s perspective indeed puts it in the lineage of Kurosawa’s Rashomon.
  • The film is set in 14th century France. It is an easy 152 minutes aside from the cruelty (necessary for the telling of the story) of having to rewatch the crime at the crux of the story three times. The first story is strand is Sir Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon). The second is Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) and the third is Marguerite de Carrouges (Comer). Affleck plays Pierre d’Alençon and Affleck may have the most fun in the film (though Comer gives the best performance in the film). Affleck gets to ridicule Damon’s character with some hilariously wicked dialogue and even gets a little “Come in, take your pants off” to Driver’s character.
  • Unlike Rashomon, which leaves the events open by putting doubt in each strand of the three-pronged story- here, it is clear that the final telling of the events, the female viewpoint, is the truth. The sexual politics are front and center here- not the meditation on subjectivity though the film is going for both with lines like “I’m telling the truth”- “The truth does not matter.” Each person does see life from behind their own eyes.
  • This is Scott working again in the historical epic action drama like Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. The Last Duel is not as pretty as either of those films.
  • It is not that Damon and Affleck do poor work here- they do not- but it is hard to see past them being such big stars. Perhaps that does fall on them a little- but even if this is Driver’s sixteenth archiveable film- it is a burden he does not totally share yet. It does raise an eyebrow to see Adam Driver being called “handsome” over and over again in scenes where he is standing next to Ben Affleck and Matt Damon…curious.
  • The final battle- the titular set piece- is just awesome. It justifies the lengthy buildup.
  • Recommend but not in the top 10 of 2021