Earlier this year, Ridley Scott's soulful post-apocalyptic film The Dog Stars opened to just $8 million at the box office, an unequivocal bomb. The upside, if you want to call it that, is that The Dog Stars is not Scott's biggest box office bomb. Five years ago today, his historical epic The Last Duel opened to a mere $4.8 million. Audiences just didn't turn out to see Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Jodie Comer in a period piece about assault with Rashomon-style storytelling. That's a shame, because audiences missed out on a very nuanced, very well-acted drama about power, gender and the nature of truth. They also missed out on an absolutely sick fight scene.
To some extent, it shouldn't be a surprise that a movie titled The Last Duel would deliver when it comes to depicting the titular last duel. The fight only makes up a small part of the film, however, and after an opening scene teasing the start of the duel the film flashes back to show the events leading up to it from three key perspectives. Based on a real event from 14th century French history, The Last Duel follows the relationship between Jean de Carrouges, a knight played by Damon, and Jacques le Gris, a squire played by Driver. Though the two are initially friends, they have a massive falling-out when Count Pierre d'Alençon (Ben Affleck sporting an incredible goatee and even more incredible attitude), takes some of Jean's lands and bequeaths them to Jacques. Jean is honorable but brutish and not especially smart, and his marriage to Marguerite (Comer) is strained and childless. Jacques has become smitten with her, and while Jean is away he assaults Marguerite, though he claims to have done no such thing.
