The Last Hour (2008) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

Hong Kong, France 2008
Director: Pascal Caubet
Cast: Pascal Caubet, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, DMX, Kwong Leung Wong, Bettina Antoni, Tony D'Amario
Rating:
Language: English
Release Date: 15 May 2008 (France)
Running Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

The Movie Review

One thing for sure on how to lure the audience to watch an action movie is for the filmmakers to put several notable action stars and by teaming up even only David Carradine and Michael Madsen, it somehow implies that the movie would be good, or is it? That pair would remind the audience of the awesome movie by Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003). But the filmmakers even tried to spice up the cast with other names like DMX and Kwong Leung Wong. Which turns out that Pascal Caubet himself who also directed, wrote the screenplay and did the screening. He's also the producer of The Last Hour. Whew so many hats to wear...

Six badas$es/mercs/killers from all around the world


The LAST HOUR
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

are lured to go into the same house in Hong Kong by a mysterious letter sent by their late fathers. They are Mr. Brunelli or Casino (Tony D'Amario), Gordon Muller or Monk (Michael Madsen), Mr. Smith or Black Jack (DMX), Poker (Pascal Caubet) from French, and Shang (Tommy Wong) from Kowloon, Hong Kong, those men however at first are not connected in any way. Arriving at the house they are welcomed by a girl named Melanie (B-Tina Antoni) or known as Poison. Inside the house, not only do they find eerie similarity, but also a mysterious figure with very bad intention towards them. Their problem is arising when their presence is detected by the police and eventually surrounded. The house is actually a trap where they only got one hour left to survive.

There are action movies that doesn't waste much time from the beginning for an introduction and just straight to the point, there are also however that start off with a slow pace. The Last Hour falls to the latter. It introduces us one thing or two about those men, such where they come from and how their history is. I’ve gotta say that the introduction is cheesy, since it is forced too much to explain about them, the script is weak, but then again the upside is, at least it involves the audience emotion (suppose to, but I don't think so) to know who they really are before they start kickin' ass in the house. So it's about 40 minutes of snail-walking before you start to feel excited.

What irks me the most is the dub! What the heck is that? It feels like seeing a non-English language film being dubbed into one. Ouch...one major flaw. Another big trap of flaw is unfortunately and sadly to say is the acting quality of the supporting cast and the majority of the main cast, duh! It feels so flat-out fake, not to mention the dialogue that is so mind-numbingly uninteresting. I may be way too extreme to say it as comedic, but it's just full of drivel or poppycock, I feel like the actors are actually children with big muscles and a capability of saying only rude words. As if it's not enough, Michael Madsen even remind us by saying "This game has a time limit and the clock is ticking", okay we already know that from almost 1 hour before. But as for Madsen, I'll say Michael Madsen's acting quality can be considered as over-capacity or in the contrary, a savior to the other actors' performance.

Not every promising premise would end up good. Probably in the future there would be another movie with the similar premise but with better quality, hmm... much better…

© iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com