The Last Thing He Wanted
2/4
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Rosie Perez, Willem Dafoe, Ben Affleck, Edi Gathegi, Toby Jones
Rated R for Language, Some Violence, Disturbing Images and Brief Nudity
I gave up trying to follow the plot of "The Last Thing He Wanted" after about, oh, 20 minutes. Nothing is clearly established in this movie. Everything that happens in this movie could be seen in a different way and I was never sure what I was supposed to be learning about the characters at any one time. That's if I understood what was going on at all, which is a rare occurrence in this film.
Elena McMahon (Hathaway) is a hard-hitting journalist investigating the revolutionaries in Central America. Much to her displeasure, she has been reassigned to cover the presidential election. Her mother has also recently died. Just when things couldn't get any worse, her estranged, deadbeat dad Dick (Dafoe) comes around begging her to help him with one last job that will put him on easy street. Reluctantly, she agrees, and that's when she gets inadvertently caught up in a world of espionage and murder.
This is not a well thought out movie. It is in badly need of focus and another rewrite at the screenplay level. Sometimes Elena's sticky situation seems tied to her story on the guerrillas, other times it seems just like a scam. This is the kind of thing that I was talking about. Nothing is consistent in this film. The occasional passages of overly wordy dialogue do not alleviate this problem.
Nothing but a complete overhaul of the screenplay could have saved this film, but the fine quality of the performances keep it at least watchable. And considering that the cast includes the likes of Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck and Willem Dafoe, it's to be expected. Anne Hathaway plays a far different character than she usually does. The intelligent effervescent quality that made her a star is largely gone. Elena is tired, cynical and bitter. Willem Dafoe has no trouble playing an alcoholic on the brink of madness. And Ben Affleck, who appears to have gained weight for the role, is a mixture of smoothness and threat.
As incoherent as this movie is, it contains a hypnotic quality that makes you want to see what comes next. I gave up trying to follow the plot, which is of limited interest and contains little suspense because when Elena comes under threat, I never knew why and from whom. Still, it shows that Dee Rees is a capable filmmaker who could probably do well with better material to work with (her film "Mudbound" made waves a few years ago).
So it doesn't work. And it stops working very quickly. But at least it's not awful.
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Rosie Perez, Willem Dafoe, Ben Affleck, Edi Gathegi, Toby Jones
Rated R for Language, Some Violence, Disturbing Images and Brief Nudity
I gave up trying to follow the plot of "The Last Thing He Wanted" after about, oh, 20 minutes. Nothing is clearly established in this movie. Everything that happens in this movie could be seen in a different way and I was never sure what I was supposed to be learning about the characters at any one time. That's if I understood what was going on at all, which is a rare occurrence in this film.
Elena McMahon (Hathaway) is a hard-hitting journalist investigating the revolutionaries in Central America. Much to her displeasure, she has been reassigned to cover the presidential election. Her mother has also recently died. Just when things couldn't get any worse, her estranged, deadbeat dad Dick (Dafoe) comes around begging her to help him with one last job that will put him on easy street. Reluctantly, she agrees, and that's when she gets inadvertently caught up in a world of espionage and murder.
This is not a well thought out movie. It is in badly need of focus and another rewrite at the screenplay level. Sometimes Elena's sticky situation seems tied to her story on the guerrillas, other times it seems just like a scam. This is the kind of thing that I was talking about. Nothing is consistent in this film. The occasional passages of overly wordy dialogue do not alleviate this problem.
Nothing but a complete overhaul of the screenplay could have saved this film, but the fine quality of the performances keep it at least watchable. And considering that the cast includes the likes of Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck and Willem Dafoe, it's to be expected. Anne Hathaway plays a far different character than she usually does. The intelligent effervescent quality that made her a star is largely gone. Elena is tired, cynical and bitter. Willem Dafoe has no trouble playing an alcoholic on the brink of madness. And Ben Affleck, who appears to have gained weight for the role, is a mixture of smoothness and threat.
As incoherent as this movie is, it contains a hypnotic quality that makes you want to see what comes next. I gave up trying to follow the plot, which is of limited interest and contains little suspense because when Elena comes under threat, I never knew why and from whom. Still, it shows that Dee Rees is a capable filmmaker who could probably do well with better material to work with (her film "Mudbound" made waves a few years ago).
So it doesn't work. And it stops working very quickly. But at least it's not awful.
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