Movie Review: Last Seen Alive

Credit: Last Seen Alive

It kind of has to be said that a lot of fans of Gerard Butler have grown used to seeing him in movies like 300, Olympus Has Fallen, and several other action movies where he’s a certified badass that knows how to get things done. But in Last Seen Alive he’s a man simply looking for his wife, and on top of that, he’s not the kind of guy that knows how to go around getting answers out of people with unique torture methods or weapons designed for warfare. This time, he’s a regular individual who is smart enough to be well off and yet isn’t that skilled in handling himself around those who wish him harm. The story does take a bit to get going. Still, it’s the type that strikes hard and strikes deep mainly because it’s a story that could happen to just about anyone since it’s not so fantastic in nature and does have roots in the genuine fears of many people around the world where such things as kidnapping and trafficking exist.

Credit: Last Seen Alive

There’s trouble in Will and Lisa’s marriage, that much is obvious. 

This dynamic is played up throughout the movie since it becomes clear right away that Will and Lisa are having issues in their marriage since the whole idea behind apologizing to Will carries with it the feeling that she’s done something that could have very easily ended things between them. But as the audience is shown throughout the rest of the movie, Will isn’t exactly open to the idea of a divorce, or even the possibility of time spent away from his wife. His in-laws don’t appear to really like him that much, but it does feel that for the sake of their daughter they remain civil toward him, and are ready to help, in their own way, when it becomes obvious that Lisa has been kidnapped. But flashbacks throughout the movie make it known that the couple had argued a time or two before the movie started, and Will felt personally wounded that Lisa would need to spend any time away from him just to get her head straight. 

Will’s reaction feels accurate when thinking of how just about anyone would react. 

The realistic feel of this movie is what makes it both easy and difficult to watch since one can’t help but feel that they might react in the same manner if their spouse suddenly went missing. The fact that Will is just about to lose his cool when the cops show up is indicative of how people might react if they felt that their significant other were in danger, as Butler makes it loud and clear that his character is under duress and is growing tired and more than a little frustrated by the lack of action that is being taken to find his wife. In the meantime, he starts to take matters into his own hands as he assaults the cashier at the gas station; it turns out to be one of the people who are in on the kidnapping. The protagonist then steals the box that holds the recordings that show his wife speaking to another man who her parents claim she’s known since childhood. Will quickly deduces that talking to this man would help to solve where his wife has gone, and eventually, he finds his way to the man’s, Knuckles, trailer, where he proceeds to beat the man into submission and finds out that Knuckles abducted his wife and is now set to go on the run since he made a mistake, meaning that his boss, Frank, is going to punish him. 

Credit: Last Seen Alive

Butler gets to show something of a vicious side in this movie.

When he discovers where the people who took his wife are set up, meaning a meth lab in the woods, he bluffs his way into the camp and begins to sneak around, killing several of the meth cooks in the process as he even takes out the gas station attendant, Oscar, after the meth dealer attempts to ransom the whereabouts of his wife. Unfortunately, a fire started in the meth lab only moments before finding the ingredients being used to cook the product, and as one would guess, boom. Oscar is immolated, Will is blown off of his feet, and the cops eventually show up to close down the operation and, in the case of the lead detective, to see if Knuckles was correct when he stated that Lisa was already dead.  

In the end, it does feel as though justice is truly served. 

The upside of this movie is that it does have an ending that people can get behind since after hearing a bit of banging and scuffling in a nearby storage shed, Will finds Lisa tied up and gagged, but very much alive. The cops end up absolving Will of the charges he accrued, and while it might not be a complete happily ever after story, Will and Lisa are shown reconnecting at her parents’ home, and it would appear that things are at least on the right path.