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The Duel (2016) - ★★☆☆☆


This movie is basically Midsommar, if Midsommar took place in Texas in 1866, and if Midsommar had guns, and if Midsommar had more racism, and if Midsommar was about "justice" rather than (I'm not sure what Midsommar is about... girl power?).

Liam Hemsworth is a Texas Ranger assigned by the governor to investigate the mysterious deaths of several Mexicans around a town where an infamous man called Preacher (played by Woody himself) lives. Of course, Preacher also killed Liam Hemsworth's dad in a duel about twenty years ago. Obviously, Liam is more than happy to go and investigate him. His wife insists on coming (maybe this movie IS about girl power after all??), so off they go.

Much like the scary people in Midsommar, Preacher wears only outfits of solid white. This is a pretty sure sign of evil (see every single villain in a teen dystopian movie and also this), and Woody wastes no time in confirming this stereotype. Turns out that on top of being the town's religious leader and mayor, he's a small business owner... except not the good kind. Actually, he's probably one of the most evil small business owners ever to exist! He charges his clientele two hundred dollars to go on a "hunt." Except—you called it—these aren't the kinds of hunts your grandfather went on (at least, I hope they aren't). That's right, this is where all those dead bodies are coming from. It's not great!

Even though this is clearly an Evil outfit, I'll admit I
gasped when I saw it.
Obviously, our woke king Liam Hemsworth won't stand for this, and he ends up shooting a bunch of the guys in town, having a duel with Preacher's son (and winning), freeing Preacher's victims, shooting some more people, and then dumping a huge rock onto Preacher's leg. Then Preacher hacks his own leg off, we get a gratuitous shot of his severed bone, and just as he's about to kill Liam, one of the prisoners Liam freed earlier shoots Preacher. Then Liam dumps Preacher's body in the river.

The movie ends with another ranger in the governor's office (circle story, much?), and we learn that the town was long abandoned, and there's no record of people ever being there. How mysterious! We also learn that Liam Hemsworth is apparently just going to wander around in the brush and bracken of southern Texas forever. Classic!

This is the first period piece I've seen Woody in, and I'm happy to report that I did in fact believe he could have been alive in 1866. Unlike Liam Hemsworth, who looks like Liam Hemsworth wearing a costume no matter what he does (this is what I like to call Ryan Gosling in The Notebook Syndrome (RGNS)), Woody Harrelson is indeed in possession of a face I can imagine existing in different times, so that's another major point in his favor. I'm looking forward to coming across movies on my journey where Woody exists in the past, but is not such an evil person.

Check out my "Woody's Hats" page for a more in depth discussion of this frankly extraordinary hat.

This is also the first movie I've seen where Woody plays the villain. He certainly wasn't the Woody I know and love in this movie (I do NOT condone xenophobia! Or shooting people at all, under any circumstances!), but his acting prowess does nonetheless shine through, perhaps all the brighter since he wasn't playing any of the roles I've become accustomed to seeing him in.

For some reason, Woody didn't have eyebrows in this movie, and sometimes had little designs drawn where eyebrows should be. That was a little strange, but it definitely added to his cult leader vibes, especially in my favorite scene of this movie, when he leads a religious service which consists of him speaking very loudly as all the townspeople close their eyes and hold snakes above their heads.

You can tell this is a moment of intense religious fervor because of how sweaty he is.

This movie was kind of all over the place, and had too many stabbing sound effects for my tastes. Liam Hemsworth wasn't great, and there was a whole plotline with his character's wife that I didn't bother to get into here because I thought it was stupid. Also, my official stance on vengeance is that it is dumb. But I really enjoyed Woody's performance!

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