Movie Review: 'Last Resort' Brings Back Memories of 80s Action Movies

Last Resort (2023)

Directed by Jean Marc Mineo

Written by Jean Marc Mineo

Starring Jonathan Patrick Foo, Clayton Norcross, Alex Santi

Release Date January 6th, 2023

Published January 2nd, 2023

Last Resort is not going to be mistaken for a good movie. That said, as a throwback to the kind of terrible movie that was prominent in the 1980s, a bloody, B-movie action flick, Last Resort has a particular charm to it. Jonathan Patrick Foo stars in Last Resort as Michael, a mercenary living in Thailand and on the brink of divorce from his put-upon wife. We don't know he's a mercenary when we first meet him, only that he lays on the couch watching cartoons all day.

We will learn that Michael was a particularly vicious mercenary when his wife and daughter end up part of a hostage situation inside of a bank. Michael's mercenary mentor, Cooper (Clayton Norcross), happens to be the leader of this particular group of bank robbers/terrorists. He's after some kind of deadly MacGuffin that is held inside the bank for reasons that are left unclear. Of course, it doesn't matter why the thing the bad guy's need is in this bank, the point is to get Michael to the bank to kill the bad guys.

Michael arrives and after briefly being detained by the dumbest cops, he gets himself inside the bank and starts to the killing of faceless minions. These scenes are brutally violent with bloody, bone-cracking, battles that play exactly like an 80s B-movie. The budget is low, but the sound design and fight choreography are superb in giving the fight scenes a great deal of energy and fun. The physicality and staging even manages to become suspenseful at times, not that the fate of the main character is ever in question.

Jonathan Patrick Foo is really fun to watch in Last Resort. Rarely have you seen an actor in an action scene be so bored. The whole movie appears to be minor annoyance to Foo's Michael. The look on his face rarely changes, only occasionally shifting from boredom to being mildly annoyed. Sure, his family has been kidnapped and is being held prisoner by terrorists, but why should that excite him, right? It's an unintentionally hilarious performance and yet, he's also handsome and kind of charming in his complete disregard for what is happening.

Foo has a strong physical presence; he moves well and he's good looking, and that's just enough to make Last Resort work. It's a very silly movie in all the wrong ways, but I'd be lying if I said that was a bug and not a feature. This movie doesn't need to be taken seriously and Jonathan Patrick Foo never takes it seriously. Nor, apparently, does writer-director Jean Marc Mineo who takes tropes of 80s action movies, including direct lifts from Die Hard, and makes a very simple, violent, effectively entertaining action movie.

Last Resort is bad by most dictates of good taste. That said, there is plenty of fun to be had. The action is bloody, gory, and bone crunching, the villain is terribly over the top, and the movie doesn't overstay its welcome. I had a lot of fun flashing back to the silly, brain-free fun of 1980s action movies while watching Last Resort and that makes me want to recommend it. If you love cheesy action, a la Cannon Films, Chuck Norris, or even Michael Dudikoff, you are kind of audience that may enjoy Last Resort.

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