The Duel (2024) – Written Review

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Plot Summary

It all started with Abbie. She was dating Woody and cheated on him with his best friend Colin, and because of that, Woody destroyed the last thing Colin’s father made for him before he died from cancer. Now, the two men have decided to have a duel to the death, and have dragged in Sam and Kevin of their friend group, and involved a man named Christof to orchestrate the duel. Sam gets this guy named Joey to help them find a place, and a drug baron named Rudolpho hosts the duel and makes it into a social event.

Why? Partly for entertainment but also to see men be men, potentially live out a fantasy vicariously, or witness the fantasy with their own eyes.

Noted Cast and Characters Of “The Duel”

Rachel Matthews As Abbie

The catalyst of all the drama, Abbie, is into photography and marketing.

Dylan Sprouse As Colin

Collin grew up in Venice with his dad, and he is generally considered chill. He likes to smoke, surf, and go with the flow; for some, this makes him the perfect friend or someone to be with. However, how he is perceived and how he wants to be treated doesn’t always add up.

The actor is also known for their role in “Banana Split.”

Callan McAuliffe As Woody

Woody is Colin’s best friend since freshmen year in high school and is known for being almost Colin’s opposite. He is more serious, a planner, and also a bit of an academic. It’s sometimes intense, but you can tell Woody knows his stuff. However, he apparently didn’t know what his girlfriend and best friend were capable of.

The actor is also known for their role in “Summer Night.”

Denny Love As Sam

Sam is a member of Woody and Colin’s friend group, but he is closer to Colin than Woody, whom he has known for ten years. He is also someone who likes to be the life of the party and isn’t against making new friends and doing certain substances with them upon first meeting.

The actor is also known for their role in “Lucifer: Season 4.”

Hart Denton As Kevin

Kevin is another member of Woody and Colin’s friend group, who more closely aligns with Woody since both are level-headed, and while they enjoy having fun, they believe in boundaries and limits.

The actor is also known for their role in “Deltopia.”

Patrick Warburton As Christof

Christof is a duel expert who Woody found to help orchestrate his duel with Colin.

The actor is also known for their role in “The Wedding Year.”

Christian McGaffney As Joey

Joey is Sam’s newest friend, and after they had some fun with Kevin in the bathroom, he learns that he has access to the perfect place for Woody and Colin to duel.

Ronald Guttman As Rudolpho

Rudolpho is Joey’s boss, a drug kingpin who, like Christof, has a deep fascination with duels and old-school masculinity before people shamed it by calling it toxic.

María Gabriela de Faría As Aphrodite

Aphrodite is Rudolpho’s notably eccentric daughter who romanticizes the entire duel.

The actor is also known for their role in “Deadly Class.”

Content Information

Dialog: Cursing
Violence: Gun Violence, Violence Against Animals, Gore, Blood
Sexual Content: Implied Nudity
Miscellaneous: Drinking, Drug Use, Smoking
Mid or Post-Credit Scenes: For the Premiere Event screening, there were post-credit scenes which were bloopers and behind-the-scenes footage. Also, there was a song by Kevin’s actor, with the other leads as backup, making fun of the movie.

Review

Our Rating: Mixed (Divisive)

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Highlights

You Can Derive Deeper Meaning From It

One of the strong themes of “The Duel” is the concept of masculinity. How much of it is performative, how has it evolved, and when it comes to those who long for when men were men, do they even live up to those ideals? Breaking it down a bit, Woody is the one who strongly pushes the need to duel despite multiple people calling for him to just talk to Colin, get Abbie involved, and hash things out. Yet, you can see Christof doing reverse psychology and Rudolpho doing the same later on.

This leads to, even as things begin to escalate, Woody maintaining this and even Colin catching the bug, especially as Rudolpho brings on an audience. And mind you, there is no disrespectful exchanges where either Woody or Colin are called anything derogatory. At worst, there is the push of the difference between boys and men, and while they are only in their late 20s, you can see the need to prove themselves from both sides.

Colin isn’t just some bookworm; he is someone who is able and willing to defend his dignity and honor. Woody isn’t just this chill dude who lets things go; he too can face immense, life-or-death challenges head-on. And while, as Abbie notes when talking about her father, the man may have never went to war or anything like that, he is what a child, a partner, and maybe society in general truly need men to be: Consistent, taking care of their responsibilities, and adaptable, rather than holding onto some old ideals seemingly more to impress other men than anything else.

It’s Notably Comical

There are comical moments throughout from the intro with Dylan Sprouse and Patrick Warburton to the madness of nearly every character from Woody to Aphrodite. Maybe not to the point of you feeling like you have bronchitis due to how hard you are laughing, but even for someone like me who barely laughs through the majority of comedies, I couldn’t help myself in a handful of scenes, especially when someone was playing off Christof or Colin.

Low Point

Abbie Isn’t Worth The Drama

With how the friend group is built up, you’d think Abbie would be the envy of all and the crush of all on the spectrum who could like Abbie. However, ain’t really anything said by her or about her to make you think she is worth throwing away a long-term friendship.

I won’t speak about how she physically looks since that’s a minefield and partly unnecessary, but personality-wise? How goal-oriented she is? Maybe how affectionate she is with people? We don’t see or hear about any of that to make you think she was worth risking a friendship that was at least 15 years. From what we learn, she hates making decisions that have long-term consequences, and she likes photography – THAT’S IT!

How in the world is someone written to be so basic worth not only a friendship breaking up but destroying a family heirloom and potentially murder? It just doesn’t make sense. Never mind, I find it WILD that little to none of this anger Woody has is directed at Abbie despite the fact FOR MONTHS, she participated in whatever she had with Colin.

On The Fence

Sam

The issue with Sam is that Denny Love is pushed to be the type of character who seemingly is supposed to be a scene stealer but has to contend with Dylan Sprouse, Patrick Warburton, and even actors with less screen time like María Gabriela de Faría and Christian McGaffney. This makes the comedy Love pursues feel unnatural and like it is meant to stand out and be seen as zany; however, when you compare his performance to what Faría does or McGaffney, he loses trying to be the star in that lane.

Then, in terms of back and forth, wordplay, or one-liners, Sprouse and Warburton don’t even leave much room for him to be a third. So there just comes a point where you may appreciate his character holding down Colin, but almost wish Sam, like Kevin, just stuck to being a voice of reason rather than this obligatory fun character who has the potential to become a meme and go viral online.

General Information

Film Length

1 Hour 40 Minutes

Date Released

July 31, 2024

How To Watch “The Duel”

Theatrically, currently, but with being released by Lionsgate, it’ll likely end up on Starz eventually.

External Link (Stream Here or Official Site)

Official Site

Distributor

Lionsgate Films

Director(s)

Justin Matthews, Luke Spencer Roberts

Writer(s)