“The Last Duel” premiered on Oct.15, starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck.
Courtesy of IMDB
Editor’s Note: This movie review contains discussion of sexual assault.
By Michelle Pham
“The Last Duel” starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Adam Driver was a major letdown.
The film followed Jean De Carrouges (Matt Damon), whose wife, Marguerite De Carrouges (Jodie Comer), was sexually assaulted by Jacques Les Gris (Adam Driver), Jean’s friend-turned-rival.
Taking place over a period of years, the movie ended with a battle that decided if Marguerite received the justice she deserved.
Ridley Scott (director of “Alien”) is known for his strong gritty direction, but it is beyond excessive in this movie.
The sexual assault and gory battle scenes go on longer than comfortable – sitting in a theater with a bunch of strangers did not make it less awkward.
The cliche medieval storyline paired with blue-tinted lighting to simulate a dirty landscape overshadow the already unclear theme of the movie.
Between the medieval battles, the #MeToo essence disappears.
There’s more focus on the film’s men than the woman who was raped, Marguerite.
Knowing the real story of Marguerite makes this film seem rather insulting that such a strong woman of her time is boiled down to such brief screentime and development.
While Marguerite’s perspective takes up the last third of the movie, her character’s outcome is a letdown.
Throughout the movie, she is represented as smart and strong. However, after the joust, she is merely shown playing with her son – with no ending scene where she uses her smarts to prove she triumphed over such a long hardship.
To put my thoughts to a conclusion, even though this film did not live up to what it advertised, the actors still tried their hardest and that is worth the gritty scenes.
Driver as Jacques Les Gris, known for astounding films like “Marriage Story” and “BlacKkKlansman,” is still phenomenal in this film as the delightfully heinous antagonist.
As for the other actors, they put in their hard work as well – like Comer, who plays Marguerite, does well for what she is given.
My final rating is 3.5/5, interesting but not good enough for another watch.
Michelle Pham is a freshman marine biology major at USF St. Petersburg.
