Metacritic reviews

Blessed with solid supporting character work and several scenes of genuine good fun, the movie manages to make its nearly two-hour run-time pass by easily enough, but not so much so that the seams on this patchwork quilt don’t still show.

The plot may be fairly predictable, but Harrelson goes all in as the deranged preacher, and he’s a delight to watch, whether he’s wiggling his eyebrow tattoos or prancing about town on horseback, dressed in an all-white suit. Hemsworth, on the other hand, remains monotone.

The theme is racism, insanity and savage brutality in Texas. Some things never change. I guess it’s a new-fangled old-fashioned western.

Despite promising elements of mixed-genre thrills, the film is finally the underwhelming sum of too many plot devices.

There’s a lot more nonsense here, all of which starts out intriguingly before overstaying its welcome.

There are plenty of fisticuffs and shootouts to be found in The Duel, but precious little of interest.

The Duel promises a battle of wits and wills, then turns into a violent grab-bag. But it does make you want to see Woody Harrelson get another movie worthy of his leering bald Nietzschean bravura.

The story is an intriguing twist on the western genre, but in piling on other subgenres and story elements, including a dangerous and charismatic cult, it dilutes the essential nature of what could have been a potent revenge tale.

The Duel has a few ideas and a glint of politics but is largely characterized by its perplexing shifts in tone and unpersuasive story turns.