The Duel

At first I was hesitant to give this movie the time of day given the poor score. Now, I am glad I did, and what a time well spent! The story is built on a simple idea that unwound masterfully from beginning to end. There is no over-the-top action scene, no flashy CGIs, no pretentious idealistic message, or downright propaganda that plagues Hollywood today. It offer fun entertainment and that is IT! Kudos to the surprisingly talented and underrated actors here. Their characters were all charmingly unique that I was easily invested in what their outcome would be. And, the awsome musical score is the juicy cherry on top. At any rate, don't take my word for it. Watch and decide for yourself.

I thought based on the trailer that this movie was going to be terrible. Like I actually watched it because I thought hey, this is gonna be a really terrible movie and sometimes that's what I want to see. But unfortunately (fortunately), I was actually surprised by how much I loved this. It's pretending to be a dumb stoner comedy, but it's actually smarter than most movies claiming to be smart, and funnier than most films claiming to be a comedy. The deeper themes shined through especially at the end, and I couldn't have enjoyed more how they stuck the landing. Despite the fun I had watching, I'm not giving it ten stars because this movie is objectively a 7/10, although the experience was, for a low budget dark comedy, exceptional.

There are several reasons that I thoroughly enjoyed The Duel.

The storyline is solid and thought provoking. The cast of characters delivered this humourous dark story cleverly and intensely.

The film is stocked with unanticipated comedic situations and dialogue.

I am drawn to stories where morality and personal principles are battling the need for exact retribution. Its very amusing.

Hats off to the Creators, Cast, Pigasus Pictures and their on set crew, the cinematographers, lighting, costumes, and post production.

After seeing The Duel in the city with my favorite people, I am looking forward to seeing it again & adding The Duel to our physical movie collection.

Reading twenty reviews or so, to see if this is worth watching or not, but I found them unhelpful. They all seem to be written by people close to the cast and/or crew. To give you an idea of what you're getting into, this movie is mostly dialog and little action. The storyline is about a guy who finds out his best friend has been sleeping with his girlfriend, thus taking him into a duel like it's the wild west!! It did not make sense even after I finished watching. You wonder why can't men resolve their differences in civil manner, or is that intentional propaganda? I'm all for independent filmmaking and do recognize the effort here. Budget-wise, it's a good production. Dialog is engaging, but it's nothing exceptional. I loved Patrick Warburton's performance. Would I recommend it to someone like me? Probably not. I'd skip it. But if you just wanted to pass time, it wouldn't be a total waste. There's great attempt from the filmmakers to make quality production here, from the writing, to the acting and cinematography. Therefore, I'm not giving it a rating lower than 5/10.

This is a comedy basically making fun of toxic masculinity culture and buddies too invested in the idea of being men to remember they are buddies or able to ever just walk away or talk about it.

While there is some interest, I presume the many 9 and 10 reviews were posted by the makers? There really is no action till the end (when the duel finally comes round). The story is built on a premise of being interesting because an old world duel is happening once again in the modern vibe. Trouble is they literally committed to the idea that its this entirely awesome idea, and nobody would ever wonder why? I think the audience might have done better if one or both of the characters WERENT unquestionably locked in this weird illegal unbelievable idea that this is how they should settle this here in modern times? OIf they had shown one of them trying to escape, or both trying to escape, or their friends being the sadistic driving forces or some sort of side twist the audience could see as a reasonable reason maybe? But it just never really felt normal?

Still it had a few moments. But it mostly dragged on with no real believable ideals driving it forward.

You learned to disrespect toxic masculinity, men in general for being this level of stupid, and women who are painted as in no way worth what they drive men to do. None of it was really working well. It was a better idea than the finished product.