Le Dernier Combat
1983 / 92m - France
Sci-fi
3.5*/5.0*
The Last Battle poster

Watches

February 01, 2004

4.0*/5.0*

December 28, 2023

3.5*/5.0*

This is where Luc Besson started his career, and he sure opened with a bang. While not quite as good as the first time I watched The Last Battle (which felt like ages ago), it's a film that has kept a lot of its initial appeal and still feels unique, even when some of its tropes have been repeated endlessly since its release.

A man tries to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Nature has been reduced to a desert, technology has seized to function and people do their best to survive. The main protagonist is working on an aircraft that he hopes will take him to a nicer place, but there are no friendly people around and salvaging parts is tricky.

There is no dialogue, the film is shot in moody black-and-white and you kinda need to piece everything together yourself. It has that comfy punk vibe, though the film is maybe a little too clean and nice compared to some of its (Japanese) peers and the score feels ill-fitting. Still, there's a lot of fun to be had with this one.