Movie Review - The Last Duel

Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: Drama/ Action
Runtime: 153 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck, Marton Csokas

I WATCHED THIS FOR MY 2021 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 50: A MOVIE SET IN A EUROPEAN COUNTRY
 
Description: King Charles VI declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) settle his dispute with his squire (Adam Driver) by challenging him to a duel.

Review: Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris are two friendly squires who go to war together for the king of France in the fourteenth century. De Carrouges is a somewhat gruff, antipathetic fellow who is at odds with everyone, while Le Gris is a charming man who gradually works his way up to become the confidant of the local count Piere d’Aleçon. And then Marguerite, the Carrouges’ beautiful wife, accuses Le Gris of rape.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon join forces again and wrote this script. Ridley Scott directs and the cast is completed with Adam Driver and Jodie Comer. The script is ingeniously put together. The film consists of three chapters, each of which sheds a different light on the case. The chapters show the whole case each time through the eyes of one of the protagonists: the Carrouges, Le Gris and Marguerite. Small details show us how the characters view the case, but in the end the truth comes out.
Ridley Scott is a master at creating atmosphere. As a result, the Middle Ages thought his eyes look almost as beautiful as they are brutal. The battles, the everyday worries, everything is cleverly rendered with a great eye for detail. And to top is all off, we get a brilliantly portrayed duel between the two formal friends.
Matt Damon is perfectly cast as the gruff Carrouges, while Driver seems the ideal Le gris. They are ably supported by a ravishing Jodie Comer, who I think is the true star of the film. Ben Affleck, not always strong as an actor, is the only downside when it comes to the performers. He comes off a bit cartoonish at times.
The contemporary theme is subtly addressed with, at the end, even the question of whether the punishment exceeds the crime and a stunning image of the peasant women who seem to silently encourage Marguerite. In short, a powerful epic with heroic battles and a particularly beautiful moral that manages to justify its long runtime.

Rating: 4/ 5

10s Movie Review - The Equalizer

Director: Antoine Fuqua
Genre: Action/ Crime/ Thriller
Runtime: 132 minutes
Year: 2014
Starring: Denzel Washington, Chloë Grace Moretz, Marton Csokas, David Harbour, Melissa Leo, Bill Pullman, Haley Bennett

Description: A man (Denzel Washington) who believes he has put his mysterious past behind him cannot stand idly by when he meets a young girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2021 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 49: A MOVIE THAT’S PART OF A SERIES
 
Review: Robert McCall is a good citizen who works in a hardware store. He has an obsessive-compulsive disorder, in which he does and arranges everything in perfection. He doesn’t sleep much, if at all. At night he goes to a café to read, bringing his own tea bag. During one night he meets a young prostitute Teri. She is ordered by her Russian boss Slavi to go with several rich and nasty men. After Teri is beaten into the hospital by Slavi, and old feeling comes to McCall’s mind and he tries to buy her off. Unfortunately, Slavi doesn’t take up the offer and that’s when Robert McCall’s true nature comes out. He decides to retaliate against Slavi and his accomplices on his own, much against the wishes of the head of the Russian mafia, who sends assassin Teddy to McCall. During the cat and mouse game that is going on between them, McCall has to pull out all the stops to stay out of the hands of this unapproachable killer.
The premise of the film is not all that original, but the execution is. Robert McCall is a character you can easily sympathize with, also thanks to Denzel Washington who plays him. The man can do no wrong.
The movie is action packed ad has a lot of tension, but also makes room for character development. Especially for McCall, who, like I stated before, is a very likeable character and you can’t help but root for him. I don’t think this movie would have been as good if McCall was played by someone else.
The final confrontation is amazing, I loved that part of the film. Bloody and violent, but very cool.
“The Equalizer” is a really good film that liked much more then I expected too.  

Rating: 4/ 5