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Even though it's October as the resident Ridley Scott fan I am compelled to try and see this in theaters.
Good review! Like kingdom of heaven, do you think there could be a directors cut? I know it's long, but it made a major difference with KoH.
I've been listening to the score from KoH a lot these days, it's beautiful.
Starts off terrible, but ends very well. The duel itself is especially good. Comer and Driver are the standouts.
Too bad the studio had no idea how to market this. Feel like it would've been a hit when late night shows were big.
But that first story... did anyone else feel like it was recapping with how frantically edited it was?
I agree with all of this except I would add that Ben Affleck is a standout... which basically means Matt Damon is left out of the inner circle. Overall the movie is well acted. The duel started out with some annoying slo-mo effects, but eventually became satisfyingly physical and clunky (with all that armor). Reminded me a little of the end of The Revenant, except they're wearing full chain mail.
But the final chapter rendered everything else obsolete, which is an unforgivable crime in a movie this long. Why didn't they just tell the story as it happened? Lots to appreciate, but it's a nay from me.
A bit rough during the Damon-centric first part, but it turns out that his section has to bear the burden of narrative heavy-lifting -- establishing this world, the characters in it, their general relationships, and overall timeline -- in which both the writing and direction can't quite overcome so it gets unfocused and choppy often. Becomes more involving once his story narrows down only to the Driver dispute, and by the time he learns of the central assault the films takes flight and stays gripping until the end, with a gnarly, heart-stopping climatic duel undercut by a feeling of institutional injustice that lingers no matter the outcome.
Overall a lavishly mounted production with assured direction, a script smartly attuned to pov's diverging little distortions that accumulate into pivotal difference, and a terrific ensemble. Comer has the best performance mostly by virtue of having the most high-wire act to play, in which she rises to the occasion of getting minor inflections in three sections' overlap just right. Affleck also transcends his small role by going most hilariously and perceptively full-bro as a count drunk on power. It will be interesting as well to rewatch this and see if the more minor characters/performances also diverge in each section; Alex Lawther as a shifty, Joffrey-ish King Charles VI most likely stays the same throughout, but I'm curious to watch this time if Serena Kennedy's Queen Isabeau being so emotionally invested -- manifesting itself in moments like grabbing her husband's hand during the trial, or intensely watching the duel -- occurs solely in the final, Holofcener-penned section. 8/10
What if Ridley Scott made his best movie since Blade Runner [director's cut] and no one went to see it? Does it make a sound?
Ridley Scott has always seemed like kind of a humorless grump, but now he has graduated to official Grumpy Old Fart status, blaming this movie's lack of success on "millennials and their cell phones".
Okay, boomer.
I definitely wouldn't call it the millennials fault, but there was definitely been a severe infantilization of mainstream movie tastes in recent decades.
1960
1 Swiss Family Robinson
2 Psycho
3 Spartacus
4 Exodus
5 The Apartment
6 Tall Story
7 Please Don't Eat the Daisies
8 Elmer Gantry
9 Pepe
10 The Alamo
1970
1 Love Story
2 Airport
3 M*A*S*H
4 Patton
5 The Aristocats
6 Woodstock
7 Little Big Man
8 Ryan's Daughter
9 Tora! Tora! Tora!
10 Catch-22
1980
1 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
2 9 to 5
3 Stir Crazy
4 Airplane!
5 Any Which Way You Can
6 Private Benjamin
7 Coal Miner's Daughter
8 Smokey and the Bandit II
9 The Blue Lagoon
10 The Blues Brothers
1990
1 Home Alone
2 Ghost
3 Dances with Wolves
4 Pretty Woman
5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
6 The Hunt for Red October
7 Total Recall
8 Die Hard 2
9 Dick Tracy
10 Kindergarten Cop
2000
1 How the Grinch Stole Christmas
2 Cast Away
3 Mission: Impossible II
4 Gladiator
5 What Women Want
6 The Perfect Storm
7 Meet the Parents
8 X-Men
9 Scary Movie
10 What Lies Beneath
2010
1 Toy Story 3
2 Alice in Wonderland
3 Iron Man 2
4 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
5 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
6 Inception
7 Despicable Me
8 Shrek Forever After
9 How to Train Your Dragon
10 Tangled
2019
1 Avengers: Endgame
2 The Lion King
3 Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker
4 Frozen II
5 Toy Story 4
6 Captain Marvel
7 Spider-Man: Far from Home
8 Aladdin
9 Joker
10 Jumanji: The Next Level
But that is due to the industry specifically targeting the disposable income of younger people.
To then turn around and blame the young people for it is, itself, infantile in its logic.
"We are marketing this specifically towards you, but if it becomes popular, that's your fault."
I don't think this was ever going to make Gladiator money, but 20M worldwide on a 100M budget movie starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Adam Driver with solid reviews is a huge L. The Matt Damon / Ridley Scott The Martian made 600M worldwide, so even 1/3 of that would be 200M worldwide and thus a success. I think Ridley has a point about the future of larger scale movies that aren't tied in with a popular, existing IP or don't have a Marvel / Disney label to slap on the product.
Incidentally, I think this is better than Gladiator and The Martian.
It had an awful trailer and next to zero promotion.
Affleck's bleach job and accent both seemed laughable to boot.
I didn't even know it existed until mere weeks before release, when we got a single terrible trailer, and a bland poster.
Yes, no one saw it. But the studio didn't seem too concerned with making people want to see it.
Well Skitch, you're getting your wish:
Last Duel needs to be shorter, not longer. I would guess the same is true of Gucci.
Liked this a lot. Affleck is funny if terrible. Comer is fantastic if a bit late to the acting party, not given as much to do for 2/3rds of the movie. Driver is as stoutly reliable as usual. And I found Damon giving one of his fuller performances in quite some time. The perspective changes are done incredibly well, from tiny little changes in dialogue to cinematography choices. The art design is quite rich; this thing is overflowing with texture, and it works well.