The Last Duel (2021) - Nostalgia Check

Please note: Due to a technical issue during recording, there is no video version of this episode. The full episode is available in audio format only. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Welcome back to Nostalgia Check presented by BJ in the Morning.

This week, Brendan and Juan watch The Last Duel (2021) for the very first time. Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, and Ben Affleck, this historical drama tells the same story from multiple perspectives before building to one of the most intense finales in recent movie history.

We break down the biggest moments of the film, discuss the performances, compare our thoughts to IMDb and Letterboxd reviews, and decide whether The Last Duel deserves more recognition than it received during its theatrical run.

We also spin the wheel to determine the next year in our series, and somehow the wheel lands on 2011 again. That means another round of 2011 movies is headed your way.

What did you think of The Last Duel? Is it one of Ridley Scott’s most underrated films, or did audiences get it right? Let us know in the comments.

Subscribe for weekly movie reviews, first-time watches, nostalgia rewatches, and movie discussions from BJ in the Morning.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

We're talking about the movie that we're pleased comments and everyone hated because they're on their phones too much. And that's the last duel. Welcome back to BJ in the morning, your favorite dirty name podcast that puts nostalgia to the test with rewatches and first-time watches, and we see what holds up. My name's Brendan. And I'm Juan. And this week, finishing out the year 2021, we're talking about Ridley Scott's The Last Duel. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the last duel. Had you seen this movie or heard about this movie before we picked it? Not at all. Me either.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

I didn't even see a trailer. I don't think so. I haven't heard anybody talk about it. I didn't know who was. I haven't seen it on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, nothing. Nothing.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Not a single thing. You know what you can see on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, all that stuff?

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Us. BJ in the morning podcast slash BJ in the morning underscore. Yeah, so like on YouTube you can find us at BJ in the morning podcast. And on Instagram, it's BJ in the morning underscore. And on TikTok.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

BJ in the morning podcast. It's all different now. Shit. And if and if you're listening. Yeah, go ahead. Oh, I'm sorry. You want to talk about a duel? Not for the last time though. Uh if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, go ahead and leave us a five-star review. We've had a lot of new people coming to the show, and we want to say thank you by reading some of your comments and reviews. So leave us a five-star, we'll read it out. Uh, and then, you know, if you're on Spotify, you can do the same. Right. Leave a comment. We respond to all the comments. We love reading the comments. Uh, last week, our movie that we watched was Spider-Man No Way Home. Hell of a time. This movie, totally different vibes. What a fucking movie.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yes. That movie was definitely not what I was expecting. Not at all. But I remember before we watched the movie, we watched the trailer. And the trailer was epic.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Yeah. I I remember saying to you too when we watched the trailer, like, this looks fucking badass.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

And how have we not seen anything about this movie with a trailer like that?

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah, you know why? We're on our phones too much. Sure. That's what Ridley Scott said. Sure. That's why this movie didn't make any money. Because all of us youngsters are on our phones too much. I mean why did I make Sir Ridley Scott sound like Southern? We're all on our phones too much.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

That was good. I think honestly, though, it was the marketing. Because I can sit down and watch a movie and not look at my phone. Yeah. Never knew anything about this movie until we were doing this movie for the podcast. So is it a marketing issue? Maybe. Maybe. Because phones don't stop you from going to the movies.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

No, they usually help.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

And that's where our sponsor I'm saying people say our sponsor, movie phone.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Yeah. So if if it depends on the context, right? So if it flopped because people didn't like it, it could be because people are on their phones too much.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

But I don't think it's that because the box office says nobody even went.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Yeah. If it flopped because of box office sales, then that's a load of shit.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Yeah. So why don't we talk about the movie, see what could have caused the flop, and see if we agree with the flop.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

So let's get into the details as uh brought to you by IMDB. IMDB. The log line for The Last Duel from 2021, which has a runtime of two hours and 32 minutes. And let me tell you what. Juan, I felt like 45 minutes of this movie. Like I felt it. I was like, fuck. Just if that's a little teaser for how we feel about how I feel about the movie. Because again, for all the new listeners, we when it comes to a movie we haven't seen, we don't talk about it before we talk about it on the show. At all. So I don't know if Juan liked it. He doesn't know if I liked it. We're gonna find that out together with you, the listeners. Yeah. The last duel, the the synopsis on IMDb is John must settle a dispute over his wife Marguerite by challenging his former friend to a duel to the death. Pretty much sums up the movie for you. And it's got a 7.3 on IMDb, which is pretty good. Yeah. You want to know what the meta score is? Uh eight. 67. The cast in this movie. What a cast, my guy. Yeah. Um, this is a weird, this is a weird cast for this time period, I think. Some of these people really fit in. A lot of these people do not fucking fit in. Matt Damon stars as Adam Driver as Jacques Legris, Jody Comer as Marguerite, Ben Affleck's in this movie as Pierre, and Alex Lother as King Charles. Fun fact. Fun fact. You're you're dropping fun facts right now.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Yeah, I have to. Okay. Jean de Careux, this is based off of real people.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah, we we got I knew that going into this. Did did you know before right this second? I did not.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Oh, I didn't. It says at the beginning. I mean, not before right this second, before I watched the movie. Okay. Okay. But like it's interesting to see. We who knows how accurate this movie could be, right? Right. But it's still interesting as fuck to see a portrayal of these times. Like when we watched uh Master and Commander, it was interesting to see just the period. The fact that these people existed. Right. Um, the fact that the way they did things is not the way we do things now, right? And uh my fun fact was that it was based off of real people. That was my fun fact.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Uh on the apparent last duel uh in France. Fun fact. Um, let's get some more fun facts. Directed by Ridley Scott. What else has Ridley Scott directed? We didn't do this for uh Spider-Man, but that's okay. You don't? Alien. Yeah. Alien Yeah. Okay, okay. Um also uh House of Gucci, uh Napoleon, Gladiator, Gladiator 2, writers. This is a fun one. Do you know who wrote this movie? Did you see at the end of the credits who wrote this movie? No. Screenplay by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. This is the first time that they've written a movie together since Goodwill Hunt. Yeah. Um, but they also brought in Nicole Holofencer, it's a tough one. The the the C comes right after the F. Um, it's a weird. But they brought in a female's perspective to help write Marguerite a little bit better. And honestly, dude, they needed it.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

If Ben Avleck and Matt Damon writing for women doesn't sound like a good time, but she also like she, I mean, I didn't know that, but like I had in my notes how good Jody Comer is, yeah, how good she is is in this movie. How how she is portrayed as a strong woman with still being very feminine and wifely for the time being. You know what I mean? So doing her wifely duties, yeah, which is for the time period.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

For the time period, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Now it would be but she was still a strong woman, and she still stood up to her mother-in-law, and she stood up to the court, and she stood up to Adam. We're gonna get into all that, but she stood up for herself, for herself, and it's like it was written perfectly because of because of her, yeah. Which I like I said, didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Yeah, and uh I want to say before we get into reading reviews and really breaking down the movie and things like that, that this movie does have depictions and um it talks a lot about sexual assault. So if that's not something you want to listen to, if you don't want to listen to this movie, that's fine. We'll give you a second while we sit here and twiddle our thumbs. Um, we'll just give you a second to to leave the show, go find another episode. Uh, go listen to Spider-Man if you haven't listened to that one. Um, the time is going now, by the way. I'm I'm stalling. Disclaimer. The disclaimer is that this movie could be tough for some of some listeners. So if you don't want to hear about it, the time is coming to an end right now to find another episode. So let's get into some reviews of this movie. This is an eight out of ten from 2021. Uh, great original film that gets better and better the further into it you get. Uh, France, late 14th century, and Jean de Courouge and Jacques Legris are friends, but a series of disagreements has soured their relationship. These animosities are stoked to deadly feud when Carouge's wife, Marguerite, accuses Legris of sexual assault. When all other avenues of justice are exhausted, Courouge takes the only option left: a duel to the death. It's a great drama directed by Ridley Scott and written by Damon and Affleck. Ridley Scott's first film as a director was The Duelists in 1977, set during the Napoleonic era. Turns out the last duel is very different to the duelist, and thankfully so. This is an eight out of ten from 2021. Um, if you it's a slow, suspenseful, and enjoyable movie. If you want to watch something that has well-developed characters and plot and will really pull you in, give this a go. I think the strongest thing about this movie is the storytelling, which is very mature, thoughtful, and well-paced. It turns what would otherwise be another medieval action flick into an engrossing study about injustices, conflict, and how human beings relate with each other. A masterpiece of storytelling through the unreliable narrator. This one's from 2021 as well. This is a story of the same events told through different viewpoints. And with each viewpoint, you're going to notice major differences as well as subtle ones. It's a perfect example of how unreliable people are when they tell their side of the story. How people both intentionally and unintentionally chose to change and omit important parts of it, and how everyone remembers things differently. Seven out of ten, I'm just gonna read the title of this one. Jody Comer stole the show. And then there was a six out of ten that just said way too long. Uh, but we're gonna head on over to where the ruffians hang out. The letterbox reviews for all the the grimy street dwellers of medieval times. Uh-huh. Um, nothing comes to mind. He's got a 3.7 over on uh on letterbox. Uh-huh. So here's some reviews. Four out of five. How did Ben Affleck outshine Matt Damon? Fucking how. Three and a half stars. Boston was wild in the 1300s. Uh, three and a half. Uh, mixing the epic with the intimate, Ridley Scott's handsomely mounted The Last Duel tells its true story from three different perspectives. Gets progressively better as new layers are added to the story. Jody Comer dominates the final and best act. Dramatically effective sound work throughout, and the editing can feel lethargic, and some cuts are jarring as the film skips scene to scene. However, the costume, cinematography, and battle scenes are well crafted, with the final duel being a highlight as the film's runtime and character-driven story give it a ton of emotional stakes. One and a half stars. Jody Comer's back must hurt from the colossal weight of carrying this movie single-handedly. Uh, three and a half stars. I don't know what's more disturbing. Blonde Ben Affleck or Matt Damon with a mullet. I know. And then the last one, five stars, uh, she never married again. Good for her. Good for her for her. And that is our roundup of reviews for the last duel. And now we're gonna go and read some of the important moments of this movie, throw in some interjections, and then we'll get to our review. And spin the wheel. Oh, we're gonna spin the wheel today? We have to spin the wheel today. Fuck. The important shit that happened in this movie happened three times.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Right? So we're we're gonna we're gonna chalk it up to just going over it once. Uh-huh. For all three times. Because the way the movie starts is chapter one. And it's Carouge's point of view, his truth. And then it goes to Legree's truth. And then the final one is Marguerite's truth.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

So essentially we're we're in court.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Yeah, that's where we open.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

And they are given their case. Each one of them. So we start with chapter one. Right. So John DeCarouge. Carrucious. Carrucious. Caroocious. He so when this movie opens, right, we we see super fast scenes. And at first I was a little confused. Right. Uh I'm sorry, we haven't opened yet, right? But I just want to put this out there. But I was a little confused until we got to chapter two, and I was like, oh, that's what we're doing. Yeah. We're kind of filling in the pieces as we go to see what the truth is. Now I have an a thought on the truth. And we'll get to that at the end.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Awesome. And I I did want to point out that um we kind of talked a little bit more off the pod about talking more about the movies we haven't seen and what we expected from them. So, like we said earlier, we watched the trailer for this movie and we kind of discussed you and me off off camera if we should watch the the trailer for like a video on YouTube or Instagram or some something like that, just to get our first impressions. But also we should just talk about our our thoughts before watching the movie before we break down the whole movie, right? So did you have any expectations going into this?

SPEAKER_01 14:02

I was just seeing I was thinking about seeing my expectations for this movie was we were going to see just medieval battles. Battle of the houses, I don't know people battling for the throne. I never knew the story of the last duel in France, so that's just what I was expecting. We saw a lot of cool fight scenes in the trailer, um a lot of drama that could have happened, which it did, but not what I was expecting. That's just what I thought was just that it was gonna be a really cool medieval battle, you know? Um what about you? What were your expectations?

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Um so I kind of expected, based on the trailer, that the last duel was gonna be like an action-packed mystery type of movie. It's what it's what the trailer really was really portraying was that there was something happened that um because we don't know the names of people in the trailer, right? So it was the woman was attacked in her in her house or in her in her residence by someone, and the trailer kind of made it seem like it was either Matt Damon's character or Adam Driver's character. So we were gonna get something like that, but also I was nervous about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck being in a medieval era movie because they look so much like modern day actors, people they don't fit the vibe, and I also don't think Adam Driver really fits the vibe. Um, the goatee seems a little weird for the time period. Um, I do know that Matt Damon struggled to grow facial hair for this movie, so he had a fake beard on the whole time, and at the end of every shoot, they had to ice his face down because it was so itchy and shit. And I I honestly couldn't tell during the movie that it was a fake beard. Yeah. Uh, but I I do think that I I never heard of this movie before we watched the trailer, before we saw it on the list. So I don't really have anything to say about the reputation of this movie. I've learned more about it now that we've watched it, but we both hadn't heard about this movie whatsoever, right? You know, before we jump into the plot, I was really curious about how Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were gonna fit into this movie. It was something that kind of caught me off guard and I was worried about. I did, I was hoping for an Adam Driver screaming scene because he seems to like kind of throw a fit or a temper tantrum in every movie. And we we might have got it. It yeah, we might have got it, kind of. Kind of happened at the very end. Uh and then I wanted to know why this movie slipped through the cracks and why it didn't make a bigger splash and why we'd never heard of it. Those were things that I was thinking about before the start of the movie.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

I had those expectations of uh action-packed medieval war, and I just kind of went into that with that mindset. Like I didn't really think about anything else, you know.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Yeah, well, you're not gonna get it. Um so let's start this off. Like I said, we're gonna go through it one time. We're not gonna do the three three different times uh because most of it is accurate, like the one time, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:14

And we can just go through and then uh we'll get to the end how we thought about it.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Since we've never seen this movie before and we both watched it one time now, right? So this is a first time viewing, first time watch, one time watch. So at the start, the last duel, Jean and Jacques start as allies but become rivals. So Knight, uh Carouge, and Squire, Legris, begin as friends and soldiers fighting for France. We do see in these scenes, they're really, really quick battle scenes, like just the start of a battle. We don't see them fight that much. The first two chapters start the same because these two guys are in the same place. So from from Caroucha's point of view, he's the one that's the badass going and fighting and starting the wars. And on Legree's side, he's the one doing it. Right? So the two guys' stories are piss and matches. Like the entire time, the entire story, they're what trying to one up each other and make each other seem better than the other one. Yeah, they have a rivalry as friends, which m friends have from time to time, especially like I bet in this time period, like, yeah, they're gonna have a rivalry somewhat, you know, especially being knights and squires and rushing out to to battle.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Um, but over time, uh Legris gains favor with the with the Count Pierre, played by Ben Affleck, and Jean Carouge feels repeatedly looked over and cheated. And I want to point out that Matt Damon is a whiny bitch in this movie. He does not take accountability for anything that he does. Yeah, he blames everyone else all the time. Sometimes it's it's granted, sometimes he should be throwing fits.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Well, he also feels like he's owed these positions of power, right? He his dad is the uh captain, and he's owed that position because his dad was the captain for years and years.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Yeah, and but uh Pierre, Count Pierre, sees Legris as someone smarter, someone more attractive, and someone who's more willing to do whatever he says and go with the flow. Whereas yeah, whereas like Carouge is more I know what I need to do, I have the nobility, I'm gonna be captain, I'm gonna do my captain duties, I'm gonna get a wife and bear children so we can continue the lineage. Whereas like Legris is more like exactly what Pierre is, you know, so it's is a problem, and it's slowly turns their friendship into more of like resentment of each other over the status, the land, and the power. So at this point in time, do you think Carouge was like was wronged by Legree?

SPEAKER_01 20:02

I think I think there's there is an intent to what they're doing. Um maybe Pierre has a plan for Carouge and it's not necessarily good.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Yeah, I don't think it is at all. Based on the the the when he goes to like to pay his respects and kiss his ring he says closer. Yeah. I don't think he likes him at all. I don't think he ever has.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah. Yeah, so um I think a lot of this stuff is very intentional. I don't think it's intentional on Jacques side. I think for his character, Adam Driver, I think it's him just moving up and getting what he needs. He's the But do you think it's weird that he's the Percy Weasley of the movie.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Do you think he's getting everything that like Caroosh wants though? Because he is.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

Yeah, he is, and he knows it. And like he it it it is fucked up of him because that's his best friend, and he knows that's his his life goal. Yeah. But he's moving up.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Right. So that's all he sees.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

So that's all he sees is I'm benefiting from being close with Pierre. I'm benefiting from getting in these orgies with Pierre, being and then being the badass that I am.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Yeah. Because he's conventionally attractive, he's younger. Uh like Carouja's like 50 in this, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Yeah, and he's he's rough around the edges.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Yeah, definitely. And he looks like fucking Theo Vaughn. And it takes me out of the movie the entire time. Mad Damon, why? Um so at after this though, Jean marries Marguerite, uh, played by Jody Colmare, um, whose family connections bring valuable land into the marriage. Marguerite is intelligent, she is very smart, she's very good with the duties of being like the the wife of um of a knight who's in charge of. This like compound, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:01

And when he's gone, you can see that she's doing an amazing job, kind of keeping everything together, running the land, making the calls.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

But all the men who are in power treat her like property the entire movie, which is kind of fucked up because she definitely is like the best part of Carouge at this point. Um, but she's also a good wife to him. Yeah. She she wants to bear children to keep their their lineage going. She gets upset that she's not conceiving. Um, I love the science of this movie where you have to orgasm to have a kid.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Yeah, I was gonna get into that. Well, and I can't get into that um at the end.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Um, but the land disputes between um Jean and Jacques makes tensions worse because Pierre Um is demanding more rents from from all these lords, right? And from the the father of Marguerite, he demands the piece of land that was part of the dowry for for the Kruges' wedding, right? So he gets he takes that land from Marguerite's family and gives it to fucking Legree, right? Uh, which causes a lot of fucking problems. He is pissed. And so when he is boosted up from being a squire, um, he's not taken seriously because everything that he's wanted has been taken from him, right? Yeah. Um, but this is when the story kind of takes a dark turn, right? Um So Carouge is off doing his nightly duties, right? And that's nightly with a K. Uh, so he's off fighting in Scotland and everything like that. Then he's gotta go to France to do to get some money that's owed to him. And he leaves Marguerite home and with with his mother, who then leaves and takes all the servants. And while she's home alone, Legrice comes and assaults her inside their home.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

I'm surprised he didn't like beat the shit out of his mom at that point because he they there were specific instructions that she is not to be alone.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

And I want to I'll talk about something that I thought of in that moment.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

And I feel yeah, I feel like for the time, like he would have shunned her or or you know probably beat her or do something to punish her for causing this to happen. But like, is the mom in on us? That's what I was gonna say. Is the mom in on that's what I was gonna say because she doesn't like Marguerite at all. She doesn't like Marguerite, and then uh she says, and she knows that she's not to be left alone, and she says, Jean said, I'm not to be alone, and I need at least one servant, and she's like, keep going, go ahead, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Yeah, and leaves her alone. This is like when the three-part structure really takes in you need to take it in stride, like into more than stride. It needs to be the full force, you need to be paying attention. So when we get to the end of Carouge's part, we see that his truth is that Legreeze took everything from him that he wanted. Pierre hates him. He is not treated like the he's not treated like nobility because he is knighted. Yeah, so Legree's does not call him sir, even though he's still a squire, Legreeze, right? His wife, they get married and they seem pretty good together, in his truth, right? Um, like they take care of each other. She's really good with with taking care of the estates while he is away. He doesn't seem he seems pretty pissed off, but when he when they reconnect him and Legree's later on, he seems pretty accepting of the like let bygones be bygones and just kind of move forward and be friends again. He kind of picks up on Legree's flirting with with Marguerite, but not so much as um Marguerite's side of the story later. And even in Legree's truth, he talks about it a lot more too, but makes it seem like she was flirting back. She came on to him. Right. When we get to like Jacques's story, Legree's story, I want to point this out now because it it'll come back during the assault, unfortunately. They line up with the the battle at the beginning and the fights over land and everything, seems pretty much the same. But when it comes to them reconnecting as friends, it's a lot more of Jacques flirting and getting his way. But we also see when he's with Pierre that Pierre is unfaithful, even though he's supposed to be a man of God. He's unfaithful to his pregnant wife, who has the worst fake pregnancy belly I've ever seen in a fucking movie. It looks like she's just got a pillow under her dress. I'm not kidding. I don't know if you saw it, but it is it's bad, dude. She doesn't look pregnant whatsoever. Like it looks fake. But he is the the most like he's the quickest to cheat on his wife, Pierre.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

And he is constantly bringing women into his room and getting them drunk. And he's it kind of it kind of reminded me of Eyes Wide Shut in this moment where they're they're in this room and all these men are drinking, and there's all these half-naked women, and they're just passing them around to each other. And Jacques does this thing where he chases the girl around the room and makes it seem playful that she's fighting back, in quotes. And he recreates that same exact story when he tells about the assault in his head that it was playful, that they were chasing each other. But everything that he did in that room with Pierre and all those other those rich dudes they were all drinking, he he says it's exactly how it happened later, too. Yeah, which is why I know his truth, in quotes, is not his truth. Right. You know what I mean? It's not true whatsoever. He's he's defending to get out of it because he's saying, Oh, this happens all the time, like any fucking guy accused of assault, right? Right. Like she was asking for it. It was it was there, like it happens all the time because I'm so good, so good looking, and get what I want.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

And the scene where um Marguerite comes to comes to Legris, she comes on to him and he she kisses him, and then at night, at night doesn't happen in any of the other stories, exactly, and it's added in there, yeah. One thing I do need to say though, in Karouja's story, he's a loving husband, he's nice to her, right? He is uh thoughtful and caringful and sympathetic for for her situation at the end, but then we get to Marguerite's story, it's not that way at all, and he's a dick.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Yeah, like as soon as she tells him of the assault, he says, Well, I'm not gonna let him be the last man inside of you. And I I was like, Fuck this guy. This is disgusting, yeah. And the way that he responded was with anger, like, are you telling the truth?

SPEAKER_01 28:58

So, like in his story, he treats her like a partner as a wife. And then in her story, he's treating her how all the other men treat all the other women. Right. Like property. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Let's get to the trial.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

So Marguerite's accusation becomes a public scandal because in this time period, women do not accuse men of doing this. And their theory or their their way to disprove her is that if she had pleasure, then it was not an assault. Yeah. Which is ridiculous and disgusting. And we also find out during the trial that she is now pregnant. They start accusing her that, well, you can only conceive if you have an orgasm. So you must have enjoyed it if you're pregnant because that baby's the same age as the assault. But the court treats the case less like an investigation of a crime and more determining ownership and honor and male reputation because they're not, no one is taking her side. Even her best friend sides against her.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

And starts telling the court about how she once said that he would that Legreeze was attractive. Even though her story, she doesn't really say that.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

She also multiple times has brought up that she's with her husband and she loves her, loves her husband.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Yeah, in her story and in Karouge's story, she is faithful to him regardless. Through and through. Yep. Even if he treats her like shit in real life, she's still there for him because it's her wifely duties. If Karouj loses the duel, that was a lot of Karouge's. If Kourouj loses the duel, say that five times fast.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Kourouj loses the duel, Karouge loses the duel, Kourou loses the duel, Karouge loses the duel, Kourouge loses the duel.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Good job. Um, if he loses the duel, then Marguerite will face execution for false accusations. And they basically tell her, you better be telling the truth, or we are going to string you up naked in the center of town and burn you at the stake. And she still says it was an assault. Yeah. But the system itself becomes like the villain. And you can see that with um with the king. Uh, he's a kid, right? And during this time period, he's like 19, the king. And he just is ready for blood.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

And you can- He wants to see the last duel.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Yeah, and you can see though, the queen is disgusted. She she believes Marguerite 100%, but she's just the queen. Carouge challenges um Lacreeze to trial by combat during the during the the trial. Uh, which I fucking hated Adam Driver in this scene because he's like flinging his fucking uh his cape around. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

And I was like, he's the glove and he's he's such a showman, and it's Adam Driver's great in this.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

I fucking hate him. You know what I mean? Like he's good. He's too good as the villain. Carouge is kind of scared that the baby that Marguerite's carrying is not his. And I think that's why he gets so angry with her. He keeps talking about how he's putting his life on the line for her and not having any compassion for the fact that if he dies, she will also be killed. But they did wait for her to have the baby before the duel. Yeah. So they wouldn't kill the baby, which good for them. Good, great. Good for them. But she's concerned about the baby being an orphan, and he's only concerned about losing the duel. He's not concerned about her or the baby whatsoever, which I think is fucked.

SPEAKER_02 32:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Um, the duel is very brutal. I think we see a lot of quick flashes of battles throughout. And I think a lot of that is because they're stylizing this movie as a retelling of people's memories. Do you think you would remember the entire fight? You would remember the beginning and then afterwards, probably, right? With all the adrenaline and the endorphins running. Yeah. The fight scenes, though, the little bits that we get are so insanely brutal that I wanted more.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Yeah. And I I think it's intentional to keep them short because of payoff. We see them twice. Well, that, and also there's a payoff at the end when you see the whole fight between the two, which is what the whole movie's about. It's a tease. It's a tease. It's a tease to the duel. To how brutal it could be. One thing that is interesting to me, it's all in God's hands. The God won't let the if you're telling the truth, God won't let this go through. You know what I mean? Also, the pregnancy thing and all that too. Like, was that an actual way of living? Like, did it all happen that way? They don't have technology like us, and and and they don't have anything that we have. So that's all they had. And they all believed it. God. They believed that faith and God would would would protect you in this time.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Yeah, if you're telling the truth. If you're telling the truth. During this fight, though, it is very brutal. It is gory. Um, there's a lot of yelling and screaming. So when we get our little bit of Adam Driver freak out moment when he is trying to say that he did not create cause, he did not do this, he's innocent. By this point in time, though, every chapter comes up, it says chapter one, the truth according to so and so. Chapter two according to so and so, right? The truth according to. But when it gets to Marguerite's, it says the truth according to Marguerite Carouche, and everything fades off except the words the truth. The movie is telling us that the truth is what she says. So from that point on until the very end of the movie is true. So it it tells you straight up who's right, who's right, who's telling the truth, which is Marguerite. And I think the only the other reason that you wouldn't even need to put that in there is that she is the only one alive at the end. So it's her story all the way to the end, right? But despite that, the the way that Legris and Carouge fight, they they're matched most of the time, right? They're pretty evenly matched. And I want to point out that this fight is so intense. Like the sound design and the the hearing the the metal on metal, like everything like that, is it feels so real. And the horses interacting with each other. I think the only time that I really hated anything in this fight was when the horse died because it looked so bad. It was really bad. CG. It just felt really out of place. Um and I know that their armor is not 100% accurate to the time, but most everything else is. The weapons here or there are a little iffy, but the the armor knife that he pulls out and stabs him in the leg with was a real thing. It was a small knife designed to get inside the plates of armor so you could stab through. I I did not I did not think Karouge was gonna win the duel. Yeah. But the brutality that they both have on their faces and in their actions is I could watch that scene again and again and again and again. Um, the entire movie is is shot and you feel like you're sitting in the room with these people most of the time, which is difficult to do, especially in the limited spaces they have. Uh, and especially that this movie was shot during COVID, and they had to take a year off during the production of this movie. But you can't you can't really tell when that happened. You know what I mean? Courouge wins the duel. He's getting all the glory from winning the duel, right? Pierre's pissed. He he's fucking pissed that his best bud is dead. Well, we didn't say how he won the duel.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Oh, yeah, should we? I feel like that's important. Oh, it's not important.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

It's pretty passive, it's pretty crazy. So it's the knife that he got stabbed with, and he ends up with the knife. Like um, Carouge. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

And Carouge, uh, they're they're fighting, they're like wrestling, you know, and you feel like it could go either way at this point, especially with Carouge's injured by from being stabbed, and he's gonna bleed out. And Adam Driver or Legris. Legree, he's on the on the bottom half of this fight right right now. But you know, with Carouge being injured, it really could go either way. And he's doing a good job stopping the knife from from stabbing him. Yeah. And then Carouge does this crazy like jujitsu roll and then knees the knife into his mouth. Yeah. And it goes out the other side of his head. And you can hear the gargling and the and you you hear him become unalived. Yeah. He's dead. He's dead. You hear him die. And it is so powerful that moment, I think. Because everything led up to this point, and even though we don't like Carouge or Ligree. Or Ligree. We don't like either of them, but we love Marguerite.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Oh, fuck yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Okay, we want her to survive. And that part of the movie is so powerful because we we are relieved that she's not gonna get executed. We are relieved that she gets his with her baby. Yeah. Um but then we immediately get Carouge saying, Come here, you know, like basically treating her like shit again, still.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

And he's getting all the glory, right? Everyone's cheering for him. Nobody But the part that almost redeems him, and I'm not gonna say it does, because it by far does not, but he starts motioning towards her like she's alive, she'll be fine, she was right, she's told the truth, she's telling the truth, and it's not enough for her though, because she knows that it's fake, that it's performance. And you can see that there's a lot of people disappointed with the outcome, you know. Like I said, Pierre, but there's other people in the crowd that are just kind of sitting there, they're not cheering, they're not happy, and they both get put on horses, both the Cruges, and they get sent out and they they leave through these huge crowds of people.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

In town, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

In town, right in front of Notre Dame that's being built in the background, and everyone's he's getting pats on the back and kissing babies and all that stuff, and she's in the background, like I think her reaction and her face of shock could be misread as holy shit, I got away with it. Which for a moment, like for a moment, I thought, like, just based on her reaction that she was lying and she got away with it. But the more you sit with it and the more you feel that moment, she is just shocked because she is alive. Because she didn't think she was gonna get that far, but she also didn't think she was ever gonna be in this position. And I love that the movie ends, and it just says that Carouge went off to fight in the Crusades and died, and that Marguerite stayed in their estate, the one that they got back from from Pierre and Legree. And you just see the baby playing in the garden, and it's a blonde-haired baby. Mm-hmm. Which tells you that it was Carouge's baby. Yeah. And it says she never got married again. And I think I think in her story and her truth, that she always was faithful to her husband and was always whatever he needs. But she was so good with his people, like how she treated the stableman, like with the horses, and how she um was so kind with the people paying double rent because Caroos never picked up the rent the month before. Yeah. And she was kind and like we said, intelligent. She was very on top of everything. And I think her just being in the garden and it's green and it's bright. It's the brightest the movie's ever been. Yeah. Even though it's in the shade. And you just see the little the little baby playing in the the grass, stumbling and falling over. And it's just such a peaceful ending to this dark fucking movie, man. Yeah. That yeah, it was wild. And I I there's there's a lot going on in this movie, but I think we should just talk about how we felt about it. Mm-hmm. Talk about a review and give our numbers. Uh, my phone number, it do you want to start or you want me to start? Uh, you can start this time. I think I did I think I did last time. The movie is a lot about honor versus truth. And are they the same thing? And how often is honor overpowered? Especially in those moments, because I think there's a lot of times where especially in Karouja's story, where his honor misled him because he was trying to be the best knight he could be, he was trying to be captain, and he never got any of that. And his honor was at stake so hard that his wife became at stake. Right. Which she should have never been. I do think when it comes to like my favorite scene of this movie, it's the the duel at the end. Um, but I just nothing compares to it, like at all. The hard part is my least favorite scene, it should be the assault because it's so it is scary to watch. When you watch it from Marguerite's perspective, it is scary to watch. It feels like a horror movie, like she's being chased by a monster, right? Yeah. Um, but to be honest with you, anytime Ben Affleck's around, I hate the scene. He just doesn't fit that role. I think he's he fits it better than Matt Damon fits his role. Uh-huh. And I do want to point out that Matt Damon was supposed to be Courouge and Ben Affleck was supposed to be Legree. But is that is that true? Yeah, 100%. I'm not this is not honor, this is all truth. Um so but he couldn't because he was tied into another movie, so they got Adam Driver to play Legree and Ben Affleck played Pierre. And I think if Ben Affleck paid played Legree, it would have been a worse movie.

SPEAKER_01 43:32

And also, Pierre, they modernized his character. Yeah. And they he was using language that probably didn't even exist back then.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

Not in that sense, not in the sense we know, like dropping fuck and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 43:48

C words and yeah. He's he says a C word.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

Yeah. Um, but yeah, I think the weakest scene in the movie though is the battle scenes because they they offer so much promise and then you they Never deliver.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

Uh the hard part is that they look so good. Yeah. And they feel chaotic, but there's just not enough. There's no payoff. Um the funniest shit in this movie is the fake baby belly. And I'm gonna pull it up for you because it looks so it looks so bad. Um but my final thoughts before I defend if this movie holds up to nostalgia or if it's just good. Um that I like that the filmmakers use like a desaturated, color, cool tone color throughout the entire movie. Um, it made it feel kind of gritty and grim throughout with like the wintry tones of 14th century France. I wrote all this down, so if it sounds like I'm reading off my phone, it's because I am. Because I wrote it down because I needed to make sure. I want to point out my favorite film fact about this filmmaking fact about this movie is that they did rely heavily on um natural light sources for lighting. So the fireplaces and the the candles that are throughout, those were the light sources for this film. And I think it adds such a tone of realism, uh, where sometimes you don't even see the face of the person that's talking, you just see the silhouette of them.

SPEAKER_02 45:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

And it adds to the mystery and the the grittiness of the movie overall. And it feels, like I said earlier, you feel like you're sitting in that room with them. Even in the in the scenes where there's light coming through the windows, those those lights coming through the windows are LED lights on the outside, but the candles and the contrast between the blue sunlight and the the red candle light or fireplace light adds such a a dynamic that your brain just clicks to red versus blue is good versus bad, especially when you're seeing scenes with Garouge and Legree in the same place, right? Um, Matt Damon does not feel right in this role whatsoever. Like I said, he does look exactly like Theo Vaughn, and I fucking hate it. Uh his accent fades in and out almost every fucking word. I'm like, what's your accent, bud? Is it Boston? Is it British? Is it Scottish? You're supposed to be in France.

SPEAKER_02 46:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Uh no one has accents in this movie. Not consistently, except for Jody Comer. Adam Driver just is Adam Driver. Ben Affleck, he's got an accent. It's better than Matt Damon's. Yeah. Uh but Matt Damon and Ben Affleck just are modern actors to me. They look like 20, you know, like 1990 to now.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

It's hard to put such big faces in a period. Time period. A period piece.

SPEAKER_00 46:38

Yeah. Uh, but Jody Comer looks like she was plucked out of this time period. She looks incredible. A, she's she looks gorgeous even when she's being told when everyone's saying that she's not, you know, they're like, yeah, she's fine or whatever, but like she looks amazing in this movie. Um, the the like long hair, the super bright blonde, it feels like something out of France in the 14th century.

SPEAKER_02 47:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:05

Um her demeanor and cadence and the way that she speaks, she feels confident in herself in this movie. She is a strong woman, she does not need no man, but she chooses, not really, uh, but she chooses to be loyal to Karouge when they marry. She didn't choose to marry him. She she got married off for the land and the money and stuff by a traitor to the king, apparently. Uh, but she uh throughout the movie is treated like property, but her presence demands that she is treated like a person, and no one truly treats her like a person. Not I can't think of a single person in this movie that treats her like a human being.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

They also lean into it harder because she's such a strong personality in this movie that it's almost considered as defiance to them.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

Yeah, because she seems ahead of her time.

SPEAKER_01 47:58

And she gets treated worse.

SPEAKER_00 47:59

Yeah, because she she's like a modern woman in this time period, right? At least how they portray her in the movie. Um, I think the chapter system makes the mystery of the the conflict more complex. Um, having a traditional narrative timeline from start to finish would probably cause this movie to have more issues. You wouldn't be able to pick up on the little changes and differences between each person's story. Um, I do think that the three-act structure, the three-chapter structure, um makes the movie need to move at a lightning pace where some things get cut out, like the battle scenes, like we've mentioned. Um, we're not allowed to dwell in any moments for too long because we need to get to the next person's story. And I think that hurts the overall tone and feeling of the movie. The only time you're allowed to sit in a moment and think about what's going on is when Karouge and Marguerite get on the horses and are going through the town until the very end of the movie. That is the only time you're allowed to sit there and think about who is right, who was wrong, what happened, who's who's who are you supposed to be rooting for?

SPEAKER_02 49:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:05

The answer is Marguerite, but you don't get to really sit with that until the credits roll. And I think that's a problem with the movie, unfortunately. Um, I think everything's well shot and choreographed, and um we never but we never see why Carouge and Legris are regarded as such high, like decorated war heroes. We never really get to see that until the duel at the end. Um so that's my thoughts before my final final thoughts. Final thoughts. I wrote um, so do you have do you have any anything about that?

SPEAKER_01 49:39

No, I think you you you said a lot of stuff that were in notes. Um I didn't read your. But it's just funny that we see movies the almost the exact same way. But like you said before, we've been friends for 20 years, of course. Yeah, we talked about movies our entire lives.

SPEAKER_00 49:58

We need another person to contract everything that we say.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

Like the the lighting, the differences between the indoors and outdoors, and like when she's telling Carouge that she was assaulted, it's just that fireplace on one side fire lighting, and it's just like you can see the difference too between Carouge's story and Marguerite's story, where it's like Carouge's story is a little bit lighter, a little bit more well lit, and then Marguerite's story is dimmer, it's eerier, and it's like it hits harder because you're like, fuck. Carouge doesn't really give a fuck. He's concerned about what people are gonna think of him, he's concerned that he's gonna have to go do something that he doesn't want to do.

SPEAKER_00 50:51

I think a lot of it's just that he doesn't want his wife to disrupt everything that he's worked for. And his name's gonna be even though he has fucking nothing at this point, yeah. Except his wife. Fucking dumbass.

SPEAKER_01 51:06

Yeah, I mean, I think the way this this movie is pieced together, it works. And especially with how fast it was at the beginning, and I was so confused until I realized, oh, it's a three-piece story for each person involved. Then with how fast chapter one was, it was easier to remember Courouge's story versus Legree's story. Yeah. And then and vice versa with Marguerite's story. So I I think they did a wonderful job putting this movie together. Wonderful job. And yeah, I mean, like those are my final thoughts. I agree with everything you said. Um I th I didn't hate uh Matt Damon in this movie. Uh I do think he didn't fit the period, but I mean, I think he was still a good enough actor to portray that he was a shitty dude. You know what I mean? Like Matt Damon, you're really good at the swap too, between like, oh, he's he's loving and he's nice to her in his story, but then he's a shitty dude in Marguerite's story. And that shift is not easy. Right. You know?

SPEAKER_00 52:28

So Especially because they they like shot everything at the same time with different angles. Probably, yep. Like, no, like they They did, yeah. Um, so they just had slightly different camera angles to capture different different aspects of the story, you know. So it was it's cool, it's cool. Um but like what do you think about this movie like caused it to be a flop?

SPEAKER_01 52:57

The marketing. Yeah, I think it's solely on marketing because this movie was not a flop. Right, it was pretty good. It was not a flop, and with how boring medieval movies can get, I had no issues with this movie, like as far as watching it. I I didn't get bored, I didn't feel like the need to do anything else. You know what I mean? It it's just I think it's solely on marketing. It could have been COVID, because COVID did ruin a lot of oh yeah, you know, movie going. But like I said, it's probably marketing because I didn't hear anything about this movie until two uh last week. Yeah, yeah, two weeks ago, whatever it was.

SPEAKER_00 53:45

So, and that's the joy of this podcast, yeah. And maybe you haven't heard about this movie. Um, but I'm gonna try to summarize my my verdict.

SPEAKER_01 53:55

So let's lighten it up a little bit too, because it's getting a little somber with the with the darkness of this movie. It's hard to do.

SPEAKER_00 54:03

Yeah, let me talk shit about Matt Damon then. I'm just kidding. Um, so final verdict, let's let's give it let's give it a yes or no. Does this movie hold up? I know it's only five years old, but does it hold up? I said yes. I said yes as well. I also wrote a shit ton defending my answer just in case you said no. Uh so I'm just gonna read a little bit of it for you, okay? So this movie was a non-stop ride from the start of each chapter. Uh, chapter one telling a story of Matt Damon, who is a weak and damaged man. Uh, his friend, played by Adam Driver, is also plagued by weak inhibitions and an unquenchable habit of sexual escapades and drinking. Um, he's clearly a coward in the face of higher power, but a charismatic and intelligent squire who uses that power to convince Pierre to give him everything that his best friend Jean had hoped for and worked for. Jean takes out, takes this out on everyone around him, including his new wife, Marguerite. I think this movie is grim in tone, color, and story. Depicting a world run by wealthy men and women treated like shit. Comer gives a powerful and compelling performance, subtly using her facial expressions and small gestures and quirks to really capture her character. So I do think it holds up. Like I said, we just went over it. I think this movie's pretty damn good. It's not my favorite movie that we've watched on the show. I don't know if I'll ever want to watch it again, and I have to take that in consideration. However, I would probably put on the the last part of the movie, just the dual part of the movie, just to look at it, because it's so brutal and so crazy. But honestly, this movie is about two fucking dudes measuring their dicks. Right. But it's really about like it's it's Marguerite's story. She is the driving force of this movie, and everything, everything that happens with both those guys, it doesn't matter when it compares to her.

SPEAKER_02 55:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 55:56

She she's everything in this. She is so good in this, and her story is so good. Her performance is you feel it in your in your soul. Like, like we were saying, it we need to spice this up because this episode's getting sad because the movie is not a happy movie. Yeah, right. But if there's one thing that shines in this fucking dark story, it's her performance. Yeah, for sure. So I'm gonna give this movie 7.75. All right, all right. You didn't expect me to drop my number right then and right there, huh? No, I didn't. How do you feel?

SPEAKER_01 56:28

We basically covered it all with with my thoughts on this movie. I gave this movie an eight. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 56:36

But but but Matt Damon looking like Theo Vaughn got you fucking pissed.

SPEAKER_01 56:43

I'm just going to say, I'm just gonna jump right to it. I don't think this movie passes the nostalgia check. No, I don't see myself watching it again. I don't see myself thinking about this movie very much after today. Yeah, and I don't think like in 10 years, are we gonna think about this movie? I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think this movie has a nostalgia factor.

SPEAKER_00 57:08

Yeah, I agree. I said the movie holds up like it is a good movie. It holds up, it's good. It holds up. But watch it if you want. You're right. I've only thought about this movie because I'm trying to remember it so we can talk about it right now. I don't know if I'm gonna remember it in a week. After we watch the next movie, when we're gonna spin the wheel right now, stick around. Um, I don't know if I'm gonna remember this movie after we watch the next movie.

SPEAKER_01 57:29

So nostalgia check?

SPEAKER_00 57:31

No. Failed. Failed. Put a big fucking fail. So you're giving it an eight? Yeah. Um, I dropped mine to a 775 just because of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Got it. I love them both. They're they're good in their their spots. This is not their spot.

SPEAKER_01 57:46

Now it's time. Let's spin the wheels, dude.

SPEAKER_00 57:48

You still want the 90s, huh? Yes. You still want the 90s. I always want the 90s. You always want the 90s. Um, spin it. Big money, big money, big money, big money, big money. 2011 again? We've already done 2011, haven't we? We have. What did we watch for 2011? Tinker Taylor, Soldier Spyers, and the Green Hornet. Wow. Do you ooh? This can be a tough to pick for the next one, huh?

SPEAKER_02 58:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:17

Speed. Crazy Stupid Love. Seen it. No, no. You haven't seen it?

SPEAKER_02 58:21

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

Drive. Seen it. Seen it. Captain America, first Avenger. Seen it. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Seen it. Seen it. Thor. Seen it. Limitless. Seen it. Warrior. Seen it. Moneyball. Seen it. Um, this one's gonna be tough. Should we watch Pirates of the Caribbean sequel? Or another nostalgia one? Super 8. Ooh. That could be a fun one. Ooh. I have watched it within the last couple years. I like it. I like it. Should so next week, should we watch Super 8? Yeah, let's do Super 8. I remember you and me seeing this movie. Yeah, together. In the theater in the theater, yeah. So fuck it. Let's do it. We're watching Super 8 next week. Super 8. That's a JJ Abrams Steven Spielberg movie. Hell yeah. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a good time. So yeah, join us next week. We're gonna watch Super 8. If you haven't seen it, go check it out. Join us. We'll watch it together. Separately. For sure. But this is the end of the episode. So I'm gonna tell you guys again right now: if you're listening and you made it this far, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. Please. But also on YouTube you can watch videos at BG in the Morning Podcast. And if you want to watch clips or like see little pictures or like see anytime we post about how we're going to choose on Comic Con this September, um, you should go over to Instagram at BG in the morning underscore. And sometimes we post on TikTok at BG in the morning podcast. And that's a lot of things that you guys need to follow. So the other option you could do is just go down in the notes below, where you can also find like a way to send us fan mail, send us anonymous text and our voicemails. Um, but you can also find links to all our social medias down below, which is pretty cool. For sure. Yeah, thanks so much for listening to our episode of The Last Duel. This is the last episode. That one's for Tara. Um, thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of BJ in the morning. My name's Brendan, and I'm Juan.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:07

And we'll talk to you next time.