Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

The Last Battle Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 28, 2009

Luc Besson's debut feature film, "Le Dernier Combat" a.k.a. "The Last Battle" (1983), arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment. The only supplemental feature on this disc is a short theatrical trailer. With optional English subtitles. Region-B "locked".

Alone

For a number of years, Luc Besson’s first feature film was impossible to see outside of France. During the late '80s, I was lucky enough to see it theatrically on the Left Bank, but only because I had fallen in love with Subway. If I recall correctly, at the time Besson and his films were virtually unknown in the U.S.

Nikita changed everything. The film became an instant success in France and went on to win a Cesar for Best Actress (Anne Parillaud). International distributors immediately flocked to buy the rights to the film from Gaumont. Then came Leon, and everyone started looking for Besson’s early films. In the U.S., Sony Pictures responded with a slate of DVD and VHS releases around 2001.

I don’t know if commercial success was the best thing that could have happened to Besson, though. I knew that after Nikita the big boys in Hollywood would approach him, and they certainly did. Soon after, as expected, the French director ended up producing a number of English-language films. I think that this was when a lot of people, myself included, lost interest in his work.

The Last Battle, which was initially distributed in the U.S. under its French title, Le dernier combat, is about a lonely man who tries to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. He lives in a giant half-demolished skyscraper with an inflatable doll. He is skinny, unshaved and mute.

In his lair, which must have been a conference room of some sort before disaster struck, the man has built a mini-plane. Minutes before a group of armed men break down the door to the lair, he jumps in the mini-plane and takes off. Shortly after, the man crashes in the middle of what once must have been a busy business district of a large metropolis.

There are other men living in the area, too. A small group has settled in front of a junkyard granting access to an underground storage facility. The group has a leader (Fritz Wepper) who likes to cut off the fingers of anyone that dares to question his authority. He also likes his 'toy' (Maurice Lamy), a weird looking man with a helmet and a pair of diving glasses, whom he has locked in the trunk of an old car.

Eventually the man from the mini-plane ends up in an abandoned hospital where he is seriously hurt by another loner (Jean Reno). He is saved by a freaky doctor (Jean Bouise) who has been dodging the loner for a while. The two become friends and the doctor shows him something he has never seen before -- a woman locked in a cell (Petra Müller). The loner then strikes one more time and kills the doctor, but the man from the mini-plane ends up his misery.

The Last Battle is virtually a dialog-free film that relies on the strength of its visuals. Its main protagonist is played by actor-director-producer Pierre Jolivet, who co-wrote the film with Besson. Two years after The Last Battle premiered, the duo collaborated again on Subway.

The short but haunting music score was composed by a man who would eventually become an inseparable part of Besson’s team -- Eric Serra. Twelve years after The Last Battle, Serra would compose the music score for Martin Campbell’s Golden Eye.

Unlike every other Besson film, The Last Battle is impossible to accurately describe with simple words. As cliché as it may sound, one has to see it in order to fully understand and appreciate it. I personally think that it is one of the most unique French science fiction films from the last thirty or so years.

The Last Battle Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Luc Besson's The Last Battle arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment.

As it was the case with Subway, it appears that French juggernaut Studio Canal gave Optimum Home Entertainment an old master to work with. Still, as you could see from the captures we have posted with the review, the Blu-ray transfer certainly has plenty of depth and detail. The problem is, they are not consistent. There are portions of The Last Battle that look incredibly strong, yet elsewhere there are mild contrast and clarity fluctuations that you would undoubtedly notice. Furthermore, I also spotted a bit of chroma. It pops up very quickly, and then disappears, but it is certainly on the Blu-ray transfer. Edge-enhancement and macroblocking are not a serious issue of concern. There are no serious stability issues either, though there are a few scenes where I did notice a bit of soft flickering around the edges. Finally, there are no large debris, dirt, or stains on the print.

Those of you who are at least partially familiar with the history of The Last Battle will definitely be pleased with how the film looks in high definition. Yes, the issues I have noted above should have been addressed, but even with them, the Blu-ray disc is leaps and bounds better than the R1 DVD Sony Pictures released back in 2001. I am sure there would be a few cynics out there who would argue that this is to be expected, but I have to disagree -- The Last Battle has never been treated with much care, not even by Gaumont, so as far as I am concerned, this Blu-ray release is indeed very easy to recommend. (Note: This is a Region-B locked disc. Therefore, unless you have a native Region-B or Region-Free player, you won't be able to access its content).

The Last Battle Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French LPCM 2.0. For the record, Optimum Home Entertainment have provided optional subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear outside of the image frame.

As I have noted in my review, The Last Battle is basically a dialog-free film. The music, courtesy of Eric Serra, is also kept to an absolute minimum (there is no more than a couple of minutes of it). Therefore, the only activity that you would notice in your speakers is during the occasional fights, chases, etc. That said, I personally did not encounter any issues to report in this review.

The Last Battle Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, aside from a trailer, in PAL and subtitled in English, there are absolutely no other supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray disc.

The Last Battle Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A bold, beautiful film. I have always considered Subway to be Luc Besson's best work, but The Last Battle is just as impressive. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed has a few issues that could have been addressed, but I am still enormously happy to have it in my hands. I have never seen The Last Battle look this good before. RECOMMENDED.