“LAST LOOKS” (2021) | Film Review

Reference to Jackie Chan: none available

When is Waldo?

Crime thrillers are exciting. Readers or viewers want to know who the murderer is and follow the story closely, picking up breadcrumbs, becoming detectives themselves until they realise they are on the wrong track.

And when the viewer is on the verge of giving up the guessing game in disappointment, the unforeseen plot twist comes along, releasing them into the satisfying resolution of the entangled story.

That’s the rule. In ‘LAST LOOKS’ (2021), however, the question is not where Waldo is, but rather when. CHARLIE WALDO is an ex-policeman who now lives in the forest as a bearded eco-minimalist and only rides his bike. Because it’s better for the environment or simply because.

The film actually begins in this instructive manner when we hear a woman’s voice off-screen explaining that people are wasting water and running out of resources. The latter may be partially true, but newsflash for all ecologists: water can never run out on planet Earth, it only changes its aggregate state. We have more of a resource distribution problem.

But that’s just a side note, because this initial hint has absolutely nothing to do with the film as a whole. As soon as we, as viewers, have these words of warning à la Allerletzte Generation (German for “the very last generation”) behind us, we get on our bikes and cycle through a crime story that couldn’t be any flatter. Holland has competition.

MEL GIBSON virtually plays himself, as he has done in films such as ‘FATMAN’ (2020), ‘BOSS LEVEL’ (2020) and the series ‘THE CONTINENTAL’ (2023). Cool and casual, just like in real life. If you like it, I think it’s good, albeit repetitive. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get enough screen time as the main suspect in his wife’s murder.

But why ‘when is Waldo’? Well, the story takes place in Los Angeles, Hollywood to be exact. It tries to be complex, but it’s not. The charm of 30s or 60s film noir no longer works. The modern twist of irony doesn’t really seem to work here either, which worked brilliantly in ‘KNIVES OUT’ (2019).

The film is okay, but not sustainable. Ha, that irony! However, I wouldn’t let the air out of the whodunnit genre in general. As soon as filmmakers grow out of their creative depression and realise that they can be entertaining even without reference to the current zeitgeist, things will pick up again.

A staggering 5 out of 10 stars

Original trailer | “LAST LOOKS” (2021)

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