Kieran Darcy-Smith’s “The Duel” is an entertaining yet standard revenge western film. Â The storyline may get over-the-top at times, but it’s probably Liam Hemsworth’s best action role as the main protagonist and Woody Harrelson in another solid performance as the film’s antagonist.
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TITLE: The Duel
FILM RELEASE: 2016
DURATION: 100 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (2:39:1), English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Subtitles: English and Spanish
COMPANY: Lionsgate
RATED: R (Strong Violence and Language)
Release Date: August 9, 2016
Directed by Kieran Darcy-Smith
Written by Matt Cook
Produced by David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Maureen Meulen, Adam Rosenfelt
Executive-Producer: Jason Cloth, Matt Cook, Aaron L. Golbert, Nathalie Marciano, Brian Pitt
Co-Executive Producer: Patrick Murray
Cinematography by Jules O’Loughlin
Music by Craig Eastman
Edited by Tracy Adams, Blake Harjes, Douglas Slocum
Casting by Anne McCarthy, Kellie Roy
Production Design by Toby Corbett
Art Direction by Douglas Cumming
Costume Design by Terry Anderson
Starring:
Liam Hemsworth as David Kingston
Alice Braga as Marisol
Woody Harrelson as Abraham
Emory Cohen as Isaac
Chester Rushing as Winston
William Sadler as Governor Ross
Raphael Sbarge as Dr. Morris
Bedict Samuel as George
Felicity Price as Naomi
Academy Award® winner Tom Hanks delivers one of his most engaging performances as Alan Clay, a recently divorced American businessman who is sent overseas to pitch a state-of-the-art holographic teleconferencing system to a king. As Alan vainly tries to navigate new and unusual customs, he finds himself thrust into a series of wonderful misadventures, and a fateful encounter that changes his life forever.
From director Kieran Darcy-Smith (“Animal Kingdom”, “The Cave”, “The Square”, “The Reef”) comes his American western film “The Duel”.
Written by Matt Cook, “The Duel” stars Liam Hemsworth (“The Hunger Games” films, “Independence Day: Resurgence”), Alice Braga (“I Am Legend”, “City of God”, “Elysium”, “Predators”), Woody Harrelson (“Cheers”, “Zombieland”, “No Country for Old Men”), Emory Cohen (“Brooklyn”, “The Place Beyond the Pines”, “Afterschool”), Chester Rushing (“Stranger Things”, “NCIS: New Orleans”) and William Sadler (“The Shawshank Redemption”, “The Green Mile”, “Iron Man 3”).
The film is set in the Great Plains during the 1880’s.
We are taken to the past where David Kingston’s father and preacher Abraham Brant (portrayed by Woody Harrelson) take part in a knifing duel. And his father is killed.
Fastforward 22-years later and David Kingston (portrayed by Liam Hemsworth) is now an adult who is now a Texas Ranger.
He is summoned by Governor Sullivan Ross (portrayed by William Sadler) to investigate the deaths of Mexicans found in a river next to the town of Helena near Mount Hermon.
One of the Mexicans, Ernesto Calderon and his sister, the relatives of the Mexican General Calderon and he is threatening to bring Mexican soldiers over the border to look for them. This may cause a war.
And Mount Hermon is run by the preacher Abraham Brant, known for slaughtering Indians, Mexicans and Negros for 2 cents a scalp.
Kingston is to go to Mount Hermon alone with a different name and to find out if he is responsible the deaths of Mexicans and has General Calderon’s family.
Governor Sullivan also talks about how Abraham has been known to have the power of healing and he has seen him heal a person alone.
But as David plans to fulfill this mission, his wife, Marisol (who is a Mexican woman) does not want to be left alone and insists that she will go with him to Mount Hermon.
As the two head to Mount Hermon, while they plan to be there for a short time, Abraham takes a liking towards David for some mysterious reason and hires him as the sheriff of Helena.
Meanwhile, Abraham starts to get close to Marisol.
Abraham starts to learn that the place is like a religious cult who look to Abraham as if he is a god. While Abraham is a non-believer, there are people who immediately cause him problems such as Abraham’s son Isaac and his group of friends.
He also sees people such as Englishman and Chinese come to the town but not one Mexican, which is surprising considering the region.
But something ominous is happening in Mount Hermon and David is determined to find out what is actually going on.
VIDEO:
“The Duel” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:39:1 aspect ratio). The film looks vibrant in outdoor Saudi Arabia day scenes and close ups are full of detail. Skintones look natural. I didn’t notice any banding or artifacts during my viewing of the film. For the most part, picture quality for the film is great!
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“The Duel” is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. The soundtrack is primarily dialogue with surround channels being used for ambiance (such as crowd scenes) and your occasional fight scenes or scenes with gun shots. Overall, lossless soundtrack is crystal clear.
Subtitles are in English and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Duel” comes with the following special features:
- Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by director Kieran Darcy-Smith and production design Toby Corbett.
EXTRAS:
“The Duel comes with a slipcover an UltraViolet Digital HD code.
For “The Hunting Game” movie fans, seeing actors Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson together in another film outside the popular franchise film series is a plus!
In past films for Hemsworth, we have seen him in action roles for “The Hunger Games”, “The Expendables 2” and “Paranoia”. And while brother Chris Hemsworth is known for his role as Thor in the various Marvel superhero films and action films such as “Rush”, “Snow White and the Huntsman” films and “Star Trek” films, younger brother Liam Hemsworth stars in “The Duel” that doesn’t depend on any other actor and it’s a role in a film that he carries well on his own. Fortunately, it works for him to have Woody Harrelson as the film’s antagonist.
“The Duel” revolves around a Texas Ranger named David Kingston, who is on a mission to find out if a preacher, who runs a large cult, is responsible for the murders of Mexicans near the village area that he is responsible for.
Because his wife Marisol is intent of going with him, and not wanting to be away for so long from her husband, both go to the Mount Hermon.
And for David, going there to meet with this preacher is quite huge, as the preacher, Abraham, is the man responsible for murdering his father.
While David’s main intent is to discover any information that the preacher and his people are responsible for these murders of Mexicans but also trying to prevent the Mexican army from crossing over and generating a full-scale war, there is a dark secret lingering around the town, and David, who is selected by Abraham to become the town’s sheriff, will slowly uncover this dark secret.
While the film is a standard revenge film, you don’t watch too many westerns where its antagonist is a preacher and his followers are religious zealots who carry snakes and women get possessed by the touch of Abraham.
I do feel the film is entertaining for its revenge aspect but I think I have been spoiled with too many westerns about teams of people fighting against antagonists, versus one man who must prepare himself in taking on many people in the village.
Perhaps that is where the film is a farfetched but I did enjoy the film for its revenge storyline, its necessary use of violence to depict the dangers in the town but by no means, does the film get into anything gory or too over-the-top violent.
Liam Hemsworth does a great job as the primary protagonist and Woody Harrelson, always a good antagonist in any film he stars in. But he does a solid job playing the creepy preacher.
As for the Blu-ray release, picture quality is very good considering the majority of the film is shot outdoors. Lossless audio is primarily used well during crowd scenes for ambiance and of course, multiple scenes with gunshots and fighting, etc. As for special features, there is an audio commentary with the director and production designer.
Overall, Kieran Darcy-Smith’s “The Duel” is an entertaining yet standard revenge western film. Â The storyline may get over-the-top at times, but it’s probably Liam Hemsworth’s best action role as the main protagonist and Woody Harrelson in another solid performance as the film’s antagonist.
