Search - Le Dernier Combat on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Not For Children Movie Release: 1983 DVD Release: 08/21/2001 Format: DVD - Black and White,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 33 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 4 Genres: Science Fiction, Sci-Fi Disaster Film

Unusual because it has no spoken dialogue, Dernier Combat effectively chronicles the fate of a handful of people after a worldwide disaster has left the planet desolate and bleak and the people physically unable to speak. A young man (Pierre Jolivet) longs for female companionship and so he puts together a serviceable plane and flies to the remains of a city where survivors live in the ruined hulks of cars -- or wherever they can. The problem is that there are very few women to be found here as well. After the young man enters the city, he comes across an older doctor who has returned to his psychiatric clinic and is barricaded there, defending the clinic against the attacks of a violent barbarian intent on further destruction. This murderous aggressor is not only after the doctor but also a women who is hiding in the clinic -- and when the young man joins up with the doctor and sees the woman, his future takes a new course. Le Dernier Combat (also known as The Last Battle) was the first feature-length film by a 24-year-old Luc Besson (The Big Blue, La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element). The film won two major prizes at the 1983 Avoriaz Science Fiction Film Festival, and collected more than 18 prizes at other international festivals -- though it was overlooked by France's Caesars and the U.S. Academy Awards. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Pierre Jolivet - The Man
Jean Bouise - Doctor
Fritz Wepper - The Capt.
Jean Reno - The Brute
Maurice Lamy - The Dwarf

Although Luc Besson is better-known for his slick big-budget films The Fifth Element, Leon, and for his art house action flick Nikita (among others), the French director first made his talent known to the world with this stark, futuristic action film which subsequently went on to win numerous international film awards and garner an appreciative cult audience. Hopefully, with Columbia/TriStar Home Entertainment's release of the film onto DVD, a larger audience will come to experience what the few have enjoyed for years. The disc looks great. Filmed in stunning widescreen (2.35:1) black-and-white, the picture is crisp and always sharp. Very little trace of glare or excessive luminosity was apparent in the whites, and the blacks are always appropriately rich-looking. In terms of the sound quality, what there is sounds fine. There is no dialogue in the film (which perhaps contributed to the film's worldwide success), but there is music (by frequent collaborator Eric Serra) and plenty of sound effects. The disc also contains the original theatrical trailer as well as trailers for other Besson films: The Professional, The Big Blue, and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. It would have been great to have gotten Besson to contribute a commentary track to his film, but it is nevertheless great to have the film available on disc. ~ Derek Hill, All Movie Guide