Mr. Movie | ‘Last Duel’ is a nail-biting best of its kind drama

“The Last Duel” has been on Tri-Cities screens for a couple of weeks.

It is an historical drama about the last judicial duel held in France in 1386. All that means is that the duel was legal. The victor lives. The loser dies.

And, in this case, the woman making the accusation gets burned at the stake if the victor isn’t victorious.

The movie is based on a 2004 book from Eric Jagger called, “The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal and Trial by Combat.

How true is this “based” on true events movie?

Jagger claims to have done quite a bit of research. In this case, whether it is — or is not — really true doesn’t matter.

The movie is a good one and is the perfect set up for 2 1/2 hours of excellent acting and storytelling.

Writer/actors, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon wrote the screenplay with Nicole Holofcener (“Friends with Money,” and the most excellent Oscar-nominated, Melissa McCarthy flick, “Can You Ever Forgive Me”). It’s packed with passable but rigid and way-too-21st century dialogue.

Where the movie works is in how the three writers put the tale together.

Damon and Affleck co-star with Adam Driver (“BlacKkKlansman,” “The Marriage Story”) and Primetime Emmy winner Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve”). Driver is Jacques Le Gris.

He’s a squire who has the hots for the beautiful wife of Damon’s knight, Jean de Carroughs. Affleck plays the count, Pierre d’Alencon who is pals with Le Gris.

Comer is Marguerite who claims Le Gris raped her.

Her husband demands the count punish his friend. No go.

So de Carroughs appeals to King Charles VI and cites an almost antiquated law that lets him avenge his wife with a duel to the death. If that’s not high-stakes enough, if he loses, Marguerite is burned at the stake. It’s the whole God’s will thing.

Three good things about the screenplay and director, Ridley Scott’s vision of what France and some of Europe looked like back in the 1300s.

The first is none of the actors — except Comer who is British — try to do British accents. Thank you, thank you thank you. Nothing is worse than the kind of badly done accents we experience in films like Kevin Costner’s “Robin Hood.”

As always, the acting of Damon is pretty wooden, Affleck isn’t much better but both Driver — who is one of, if not, THE best young actor working today — and Comer are exceptionally good.

Second, the layout of the story. The screenplay gives you the story of Marguerite’s may-or-may-not-have-happened, rape from the point of view of the three main characters. First the knight, then the squire and then hers.

Third. Scott shoots a lot of the scenes from multiple camera views and you see the exact same scene the characters remember only with a different eye. It’s brilliant storytelling.

And his duel at the film’s climax is a nail-biter and one of the best of its kind ever done.

Rated R for violence and mature themes. It’s playing at the Fairchild Cinemas Pasco, Queensgate 12 and Southgate 10 and at the AMC Classic Kennewick 12.

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5

This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Mr. Movie | ‘Last Duel’ is a nail-biting best of its kind drama."