Jodie saves the day in a muddy medieval epic
The Last Duel
Cert: 18, 2hrs 32mins ★★★☆☆
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Cert: 15, 1hr 37mins ★★☆☆☆
Ron’s Gone Wrong
Cert: PG, 1hr 46mins ★★★☆☆
Halloween Kills
Cert: 18, 1hr 46mins ★☆☆☆☆
More than 40 years ago, Ridley Scott made his cinematic debut with The Duellists, about two French cavalry officers locked in an endless round of duels during the Napoleonic Wars. Part of the film’s appeal is that no one understood why they were duelling.
There are no such problems as Scott returns to similar territory with The Last Duel, set 400 years earlier during the turbulent reign of King Charles VI of France. Two aspiring knights – Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) – fall out when a parcel of land intended for one is controversially gifted to the other. But there’s worse to come when de Carrouges’s beautiful new wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer), catches the eye of the charismatic but womanising Le Gris. Suddenly, the deadly tournament that provides the gripping opening begins to make some sense. Ah, but what exactly has happened?
Despite filming being interrupted by Covid, Scott’s re-creation of the 14th Century is muddily convincing, exhausting bloody battle scenes and all. But just as you find yourself longing for a little sunshine, so you find yourself longing for someone to take hold of it all in the way, say, that Russell Crowe did with Gladiator or Harrison Ford did in Blade Runner – two of Scott’s best films, of course. But with Damon in taciturn mode and Driver handsome but unsympathetic, no one does; at least until it’s almost too late. That’s because Eric Jager’s book has been adapted by Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener using what film buffs would call a Rashomon structure, named after the Japanese film best known for the nowfamiliar device of replaying the same events from different perspectives. It’s only when Marguerite takes centre stage that this long film belatedly comes alive.
Three years ago, Venom, the Marvel spin-off that sees Tom Hardy playing a journalist whose body is also home to a carnivorous alien symbiont, was one of those films that divided critics from cinema audiences. We all hated it but audiences, particularly young audiences, flocked to it.
I expect something similar will happen with Venom: Let There Be Carnage, despite the whole thing being played more for laughs and there being two symbionts, not one. The new one is red and multilimbed and goes by the name of Carnage. Which, given that he’s in the body of a condemned serial killer (Woody Harrelson), is probably a good choice. Still massively dependent on CGI, it’s definitely not for most grown-ups.
By distinct contrast, accompanying adults – except possibly those employed by Apple – will enjoy Ron’s Gone Wrong, a likeable children’s cartoon about a new digitally connected children’s toy designed by the Bubble Corporation to be your ‘best friend out of the box’. It’s just that the damaged one given to the awkward Barney doesn’t really work. Never quite reaches top gear but there are some lovely lines.
Three years ago, Halloween surprised us all by marking the 40th anniversary of the horror franchise and actually being quite good. Despite the return of the iconic Jamie Lee Curtis, its sequel, Halloween Kills, is quite dreadful. Not so much trick or treat, just terrible.