Last resort

"The title itself contains the questions and answers. The hero is the last resort to a seemingly hopeless solution. He is the catalyst of a violence that acts like a poison on the man and his environment and sometimes even on his family. Michael is a soldier. When I say soldier, I mean confrontations and fights, because beyond a first degree reading of what could be called a genre film, I want to bring several levels of consciousness and try to draw the viewer into a more human and deeper story. Through unbridled action, the story, led by strong and endearing characters, takes up the great themes of justice and redemption. It is also a work on the violence of our society, whether it is justified by a state or imposed by illicit acts. My project is not a film showing gratuitous violence. The action, as dynamic as it is, is only there to accelerate the narrative. My goal is to tell a story of redemption, justice and love. "Jean Marc Mineo

Last resort is certainly not a memorable action film but nevertheless manages to hold our attention throughout the story, notably by its very successful but minimalist action scenes but also by the presence of actor John Patrick Foo (Tekken (2009), Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2010), Duality (2014), The outsier (2019) and the Rush Hour series). The director and writer Jean Marc Mineo (Bangkok Revenge (2011), Gates of the Sun: Algeria Forever (2014)) tries despite the means that we feel reduced to give his third film a correct appearance and able to entertain viewers enjoying B-movie action.

Michael (Jonathan Patrick Foo) is an experienced soldier living in Bangkok who between two missions seems to take pleasure in resting in front of his television and neglects his obligations as a family man with his wifeAnna (Angelina Ismalone) and Kim (Julaluck Ismalone). Despite his wife's complaints and the fact that he doesn't seem to want to listen to his daughter, he will not only have to face his responsibilities when his wife hands him her divorce papers, but also when she and their daughter are taken hostage in a bank in their town. This bank was indeed taken hostage by a band of armed and over-trained mercenaries who want to seize a bacteriological weapon found in one of the safes.  Michael will have to infiltrate this bank and save not only his wife and daughter but also face an old acquaintance who abandoned him in the middle of a mission in the past.

The structure of the film will remind many of the film Die Hard (1988) with this anti-hero who has to save his wife from a gang of terrorists who have taken a tower in Los Angeles hostage. Unfortunately the director Jean Marc Mineo doesn't have the same ease with his camera as John McTiernan and the film lacks rhythm despite the fact that the action scenes, all successful, would have deserved a better set up. While John Patrick Foo has nothing to envy to other Asian stars such as Jet Li and Jacky Chan and is very comfortable in the fight scenes, his monolithic acting does not help to make him totally endearing. 

Last resort should easily satisfy the expectations of the spectators who grew up with the action movies of the 80's but remains imperfect because of its numerous flaws clearly visible on the screen and especially because of a total lack of will to transform this modest production into an original movie capable of transcending the genre to which it belongs.

Last resort
Written and directed by Jean Marc Mineo
Produced by François Enginger, Elisabeth Wassmer
Starring Jonathan Patrick Foo, Julaluck Ismalone, Angelina Ismalone, David Ismalone, Clayton Norcross, Chalad Na Songkhla, Naruecha Chaimaroeng, Komson Sroymora
Music by Patrick Matteodo & Jean Jacques Ipino
Cinematography : Lewis Martin Soucy
Edited by Arnuparp Anuwongsang
Production companies : Virtuoses pictures, Eloise films
Distributed by Saban Films
Release date : January 6 2023 (United States)
Running time : 107 minutes

Seen on December 30, 2022 (screener press)

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