Last Seen Alive

If someone had told me that a 48% B-movie starring Gerard Butler would satisfy me to an uncompromising full five star rating, I'd laugh at them. But after watching Last Seen Alive, I applaud with a bow, because I haven't seen a thriller this intense in I don't know how long, and few films can glue me to my seat. Butler's wife disappears at a petrol station and a mindfuck cycle of events begins, and the whole story and the truth behind the disappearance is gradually dosed and revealed to us. The opening half hour at the petrol station is intense as fuck and I literally didn't breathe. The search for the woman with the fact that we have no idea what's going on yet was top notch, the music was top notch and only added to the final impression. Throughout the film, it's easy to see that they had everything down to a tee - from the build-up of the plot, the music, the unveiling of flashbacks to the final wandering in the junkie lab, where the tension was palpable and evoked stealth shooters, and wandering among the dirty meth lab, the containers and the junkies. The ending is perhaps a little less pivotal than I would have liked, but otherwise the film simply has everything it should have: a touch of mystery, suspense, thriller elements and the right escalation, and even though it's not an action flick or A-grade Hollywood, I'm most impressed. (06/06/2022)