Michael’s (Jonathan Patrick Foo) family has been taken hostage during a bank robbery. Their lives are in danger–but Michael is a special forces soldier with a lot of experience, and with all of his training, he refuses to sit idly by while those closest to him suffer. Maybe violence isn’t always the best course of action, but this is his Last Resort, and Michael will do whatever he can to ensure his daughter and wife’s safety. Success isn’t guaranteed, but he refuses to yield.
Last Resort feels like the same film as dozens that have come before it. A military trained individual whose family is in danger; now he’s forced to tap into his training in order to ensure their safety. It’s been done before, dozens of times (if not more)–and the premise is played out at this point. This is one of the primary struggles of today’s Hollywood–as we move forward, it becomes more and more difficult to create unique content, and Last Resort is a prime example of this. Both little pieces, and major plot points, come from previous Hollywood projects–and while it’s not always a bad idea to borrow things from previously successful ventures–Last Resort never really separates itself from the things that have come before.
Angelina Ismalone (Anna) is a terrible actor. Throughout the duration of Last Resort she manages to do nothing other than exist. I understand she’s young, and the expectation of viewers may be that she’s no more than adequate–and I suppose I felt the same way. However, she is thrown into some of the more emotionally charged scenarios in the film, and her inability to exude emotion, even in the slightest, dilutes those scenes and disrupts the moments that had the potential to be emotionally relevant. It may seem that I’m being too harsh on a young girl, but the reality is that I’m less worried about her ability, and more worried about the fact that there weren’t adjustments made to better support her, to strengthen the emotion, and to better Last Resort as a whole.
With all of the struggle that the narrative presents to viewers, there is a saving grace–the action. There are moments of silliness present in the choreography, in the action sequences as a whole, but that plays nicely into reaching its target audience. Action films haven’t always been my forte; I have no animosity toward them, they just haven’t been what appealed to me in the past. Last Resort, however, despite every other aspect of the film, piques my attention. Even though some of the choreography, some of the action sequences are a tad cheesy, they reach viewers. These instances are void of emotion for the most part, and that’s a good thing. Emotion is irrelevant in these moments, and the action takes over, seizing the audience's attention, and giving us a reason to stick around until the end.
Last Resort is terribly cheesy from time to time, and there are moments throughout that require emotion that fail to deliver in any way. It’s simply the action, the high-octane fight sequences, that keep things rolling and allow the film to possess any level of success. Yes, it struggles on an emotional level (and a series of other levels for that matter), but I think Last Resort knows what it wants to be–and to some degree I believe the film achieved that. Fast paced and unrelenting, that aspect of Last Resort is what allows it to succeed on some level.
Written & Directed by Jean-Marc Minéo.
Starring Jonathan Patrick Foo, Julaluck Ismalone, Angelina Ismalone, David Ismalone, Clayton Norcross, Chalad Na Songkhla, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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