Sunday, January 29, 2006

Le Dernier Combat (1983)

The first thing you leav in a post apocalypse, people probably won't come get you when you tresspass...

Genre:
Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi (France)

Starring: Pierre Jolivet, Jean Reno (Wasabi; Mission: Impossible)

Directed By: Luc Besson (The Fifth Element; The Professional)

Overview: In a harsh world when humans are plagued with the inability to speak, one man tries to survive.

Acting: With you Jean Reno and Luc Besson fans out there, you'll be happy to know that this film was well directed and brilliantly acted, if a touch exaggerated. The exaggeration was necessary as there was no script, but the emotions and motives of the actors was really well maintained. Enjoyable. Even the gimp.
Rating: 8

Cinematography: This was all black and white with some harsh contrast effects. The costumes (guys in ties but no shirt or home-made armour) were terrific, the sets were appropriately decrepit, and though the budget was limited, this was fun to watch, definitely.
Rating: 8

Script: This film had no dialogue. The whole silence-inducing plague aspect of this was very neat. No one used any sign language, but they communicated rather effectively. Did the characters get the message across? Absolutely. Super-cool.
Rating: 8

Plot: The story, admittedly, is a little confusing. Why this guy travels on a home-made plane just to come back I don't know, but what happens in the other town is a great tale. The classic David and Goliath with some apocalyptic Mad Max stuff going on too. Sure it's simple, but good... and righteous.
Rating: 7

Mood: The mood is the best part. With home-made armour and weapons, a new era with raining fish and hailstones the size of your head, the incredibly original idea of having a whole mute society, oh yeah, good times.
Rating: 8

In a world with vwery little to do, cattle-prod games were quite popular.

Overall Rating: 78% (Puts Up A Good Fight)

Aftertaste: So we had a theme day, watching all this post-apocalyptic stuff. I can't say that the whole day was full of intensely amazing film, but this one was really good. I would recommend this to anyone into the genre, or anyone into Besson, but I can't say I'll watch it twice.