Review by Wayne Richards
It's a question as old as the hills:
what happens to us after we die? THE LAST ROAD presents a bleak, yet
unique prospective on those postmortem possibilities. In his
independent British film debut, writer/director John Wheeler
constructs a dark, desolate landscape filmed in the English town of
Westbury. Wheeler creates a gloomy panorama of dread; a macabre terrain sparsely inhabited by the unfortunate miscreants deemed unworthy of God. It has
elements of a post-apocalyptic horror film, but might be more
accurately described as a dark drama with splashes of lively gore. The bulk
of the film focuses on a young fighter named Toby who scrutinizes the
events of a life unfulfilled as he adjusts to his new existence trapped in
limbo.
Toby is played by the talented Aaron
Long, who makes a strong acting debut in this picture. Toby is a
fighter in an underground MMA-type of illegal fighting
organization run by British gangsters. He is an outcast in a cesspool filled with unsavory
characters who use and abuse him to sway the outcome of fights.
Toby's shrewdness as a fighter ultimately costs him, as he eventually meets his demise in the ring against a maniacal
opponent. Long,
incidentally, is credited as the stunt coordinator; but the
violence depicted (in the few fights that are shown) is not necessarily
as brutal or realistic as say, FIGHT CLUB, or THEY LIVE (R.I.P. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper who has tragically passed away as I write this entry - http://www.examiner.com/article/roddy-piper-discusses-the-big-fight-scene-john-carpenter-s-they-live ). The fight sequences are
composed of many quick-cutting shots lasting only a second or two
before moving to a different angle, so it's difficult to have time to
absorb the impact of the blows.
Post-fight we follow Toby's journey
into the afterlife. He is met by a guide who determines his fate
based on the nature of his lifelong deeds.
Toby subsequently sets off crestfallen and bewildered into a new trippy and bizarre environment. Wheeler fabricates a truly outlandish locale in which Toby is tormented by visions of his past life and loss
of faith; while meeting an assortment of similarly doomed souls along the way. Long gives an emotional performance and
impresses throughout, showing a range and intensity rarely seen in
actors with such limited acting experience.
While the overall acting is good, the
direction is choppy and at times blatantly disorienting. The editing process
must have been a nightmare. The first hour of the movie seems to not have a single camera shot that lasts longer than 4 seconds.
When he's not incessantly cutting to a different angle (imagine an annoying techno music video), Wheeler overuses avant-garde
landscape shots which are routinely accompanied by a droning monotone
musical score. Doing away with the excessive shots of time-lapse clouds,
windswept trees (a la the boring pretentiousness of Terrence Malick/Lars Von
Trier) and other unnecessary visual digressions could have cut this nearly
two-hour beast into a more enjoyable 90 minute viewing.
Nevertheless, Wheeler's vision yields a striking and
ambitious first effort. 2 out of 4 stars.
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