Le Dernier Combat

I still can't describe what to feel when I received this by the fnac site. Such a rare movie, so little spoken and known, is difficult to find, even to fans, but the contrast betwen past and present is devastating: now I hold a DVD of the movie, with the finest quality possible. As I did in Atlantis, the other rare Besson movie I bought by the internet, I saw this one at home, with all the lights of my dvd and tv turned off, and marveled at the experience. I didn't know what to expect. Wickedly, I always searched some kind of disappointment when I saw a film by Luc Besson I never had seen before. But it never came. This movie was no exception. From the start, I understood that the person who makes a film like this as a first feature is destined to be big in the future. And so it happened. This won several prizes (including the highest prize in a film festival of my country, which makes me proud) and it shows that this movie is preparating many bigger things. This may be the most original after-the-war movie I have ever seen, beating Mad Max in originality and artistic feel. There is not a problem with this movie: its cinematography is genius, as well the perfomances of the actors. I am also proud to say that finally I saw all the movies of my favorite director, and have a copy of almost all of them (Joan of Arc is still waiting for me to buy the DVD). This movie is most of all a work of style and dedication, which makes clear why Luc Besson is a director of my choice: good taste, beautiful framing, excellent use of music (I also marveled at Eric Serra's first feature-length score) and the promise of great achievements. Gaumont did well to bet in its boy-genius, the man who would later change the face of France's and Europe's relation between movies and their public. Let's hope Besson starts working in a new directorial project. I will be the first to cheer it. Until then, I recommend this movie to anyone who need to learn a lesson of how good movies are made with little money. I loved the atmosphere of the movie, which, by its black and white cinematography, suggests us an even more depressed view of the world after the holocaust. This movie works by the sheer magic of movies: showing in pictures what we can't explain by words. And I'm with all the people who wrote comments to this movie and liked it: good choice! A great hug to everyone who sees this and feels that a little of their lives were changed.

Le Dernier Combat is an interesting and memorable take on the familiar postapocalyptic scenario, and its primary conceit -- its near-total lack of dialogue -- is effective, but ultimately it's a stylish but overly familiar "lone hero of the apocalypse" story without much to add to our understanding of human nature.

The absence of dialogue in the film, while interesting, is not quite original -- it was done 20 years earlier in the Twilight Zone episode "Two" (starring Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery), which like this film took place in postapocalyptic wasteland; and that story, compressed as it was into a half-hour episode, carried an emotional heft largely lacking in Luc Besson's take.

The problem with this film, as with most of Besson's work, is its essential shallowness; while Le Dernier Combat is undeniably a visually appealing work which showcases Besson's ample talents as a maker of stylish, humorous and thrilling action films (Le Femme Nikita, Leon), and while it does feature some genuinely touching and quirky moments, Besson's ability to plumb the depths of human nature falls far short of what a story of this kind demands.

The other major problem with this film, for a contemporary audience, is the music. Le Dernier Combat is saddled with a laughably inappropriate early 80's jazz-disco score that practically drains any dramatic impact from scenes in which it appears. Jaunty dance music isn't quite what one expects in a scene of tragic human suffering. Even Tangerine Dream would be preferable to Eric Serra's work on this film.

Le Dernier Combat is a film worth seeing, if only so that Luc Besson fans can get an early glimpse of the Besson style in its infancy, and there is no denying the appeal of its performances and the impressive fact of how visually dynamic the film is given its rock-bottom budget. But science fiction fans expecting a powerful human drama should lower their expectations.

Shot entirely in black and white and set in a barely inhabited post- apocalyptic world where the atmosphere has rendered humanity mute, Luc Besson's feature length début was nothing short of ambitious. The plot ostensibly follows The Man as he scavenges for parts to keep his light aircraft in repair - venturing out into the wasteland he stumbles across a hospital where he meets The Doctor, a man living in fear of The Brute (played by Jean Reno) who is attempting to gain entry to the hospital and kill the Doctor. Through non-verbal communication, The Man and The Doctor come to help each other in an attempt to survive and keep The Brute at bay. Despite the innovative premise and stark, stylish beauty of Besson's direction, the film moves at an odd pace whereby it's more confusion and intrigue that keeps the viewer watching, rather than for any substance of character or story. The daring decision to have next to no intelligible dialogue throughout doesn't help matters, as the viewer is left to piece together the characters motives without explanation, but it's the score (the epitome of awful 80's synth soundtracks) more than anything else that dates the film and hindered this viewers enjoyment. While still worth checking out for any fans of Besson, the post-apocalyptic genre and cinema in general, it's not the easiest of films to watch, but one that rewards the viewer in spades through Besson's fantastic direction.

I am not an expert on film and saw this only by accident on TV years ago. Without knowing the title or director I have been trying to find out what it was ever since. I have just stumbled across it in my local video rental shop and it is just as I remembered. To me a film does not have to be completely original ( mad max, lack of dialogue ) or super fast, have everything explained or even add to 'our understanding of human nature' to be enjoyed. My advice is to sit back, relax and watch this to the end.

Not exactly. This is a most unusual film. Shot in widescreen and black and white, with Dolby stereo and only one whispered bit of dialogue. The world is in ruins, and our main character (credited as "The Man"), makes his escape from a band of looters by stealing their prized possession, a fully charged automobile battery, and uses it to power his ultra-light plane out of the ruins of the city.

In his travels, he comes across a doctor, with whom he communicates non-verbally (apparently, the atmosphere is so polluted, the human race is rendered mute), and confronts another man, a clumsy, self-styled "barbarian of the wastelands" who wields a sword as if it were a broom.

One of Luc Besson's early works, it is as original as it is imaginative. I had the fortune of seeing it on a wide motion picture screen in New York City. I still haven't forgotten it. Yes, I know that the end of the world makes for a strange concept for an art film from France, but Besson makes this unlikely premise work to perfection.

Highly recommended.