Most people this week will be seeking out a copy of SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME to watch. The movie was a huge hit at the box office and no doubt will be the one least likely to be found to rent. This presents a great opportunity for a little known movie that deserves more attention than it’s received so far. That movie is LAST LOOKS and it is one incredibly fun whodunit
Charlie Hunnam stars as Charlie Waldo, an ex-LAPD detective who left the force 3 years ago and who has secluded himself in a trailer on a piece of land he bought in Idyllwild. He’s living a minimalist life, owning only 100 things. All of this is his way of paying penance for something that happened, something that made him leave the force behind as he was reaching the goals he wanted.
One day a horn honks and up pulls Lorena Nascimento (Morena Baccarin), his old flame. Although he left her behind with no warning she is there to offer him a job. She’s working as a private investigator and her newest client is Alastair Pinch (Mel Gibson), an actor accused to murdering his wife. She’s working for the studio of the hit series Pinch stars in. But Charlie declines the offer, preferring the seclusion and self-punishment he’s chosen.
All that changes when Charlie is pulled out of his bed in the middle of the night by three rap-wannabe thugs. They warn him that he needs to stay away from the case. When he asks why they think he’s working it they show him the newspaper headline saying he is working for the studio. Just to make sure he gets the message they knock him unconscious with his own frying pan.
All this does is pique his interests. The next day Charlie jumps on his bicycle, hot tails it to town and takes the first bus to L.A., bicycle included. He arrives and heads to the studio where he meets Wilson Sikorsky (Rupert Friend) the producer of Pinch’s series. He tells Wilson he isn’t working the case but is talked into it, especially when he learns Lorena is missing.
On the set he meets Pinch for the first time. Pinch is a functioning alcoholic, always drinking and yet getting through his performance as if he were sober. His behavior off the set is atrocious though and he is constantly both friendly and withholding of information when it comes to Charlie. He takes him to his mansion to stay in and there Charlie meets his little girl Gaby, the one thing in his life Pinch dotes on.
Charlie makes a point of asking questions of Gaby’s teacher, Jayne White (Lucy Fry). She provides him what she has time for and then asks him to meet her later to discuss the matter more. During this time with her she asks him why he left and the story is revealed to the viewer.
Charlie follows the clues, looking first through the house and then through information at the coroner’s office he gets from an old friend. Assistance from the police isn’t coming his way as he burned those bridges when he left the force in the incident that drove him from L.A. When he tries anyway an ex-friend and detective Big Jim Cuppy (Clancy Brown) informs him that the body of Lorena was found torched in her husband’s car. What was once a job is now personal and no one will stand in the way of Charlie Waldo.
The movie does a fantastic take on the neo-noir styled detective stories that have come before it, always keeping you guessing at who did what and who is guilty. You’re never quite sure if Pinch in an alcoholic blackout actually killed his wife or if someone else did. A ton of red herrings present themselves as the movie progresses with each being a possible new suspect in the murder of Mrs. Pinch. How they all tie together makes the movie as fascinating as it is entertaining.
Hunnam is a fantastic actor but since the end of SONS OF ANARCHY he’s yet to find the perfect role that will propel him forward. This one should have done it but the movie was lost along the way. He does an exceptional job here. As does Gibson in one of his best performances ever. Perhaps that’s because he’s a bit more relaxed here than in some films he’s done lately. He’s one of those actors who makes you believe he actually is the character and he plays Pinch perfectly.
Like all good mysteries this one presents you clues throughout and the opportunity to figure out who the guilty party is along the way. The twists and turns combined with the quirks of the main character make this story strange, funny, dangerous and alarming all at the same time. In the end it’s a movie that’s more fun than expected and so entertaining that I highly recommend it.
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