Last Seen Alive (2022)

Sometimes you don’t realise how good a mediocre Liam Neeson action thriller can be until you see one that hasn’t been crafted around Liam Neeson. Last Seen Alive is one such movie, which could easily have been subtitled Taken 4: Taken The Piss.

Gerard Butler plays Will Spann, a man in danger of potentially losing his wife, Lisa (Jaimie Alexander), until they stop at a gas station and he . . . loses his wife. Desperate to figure out what has happened, and with other people viewing him with suspicion (they were about to have some time apart), Butler follows the one lead he has with the tenacity of a police dog. 

The second collaboration between writer Marc Frydman and director Brian Goodman (their first being Black Butterfly), this doesn’t have me hoping beyond hope that they work together again any time soon. Last Seen Alive is a full retread of things we have seen done so much better over the years, with any extra sense of real threat or danger offset by the growing realisation that absolutely nothing here is unpredictable. It’s pointless, and lacking any feeling of actual entertainment, but the only real threat is the threat to Butler’s career.

Speaking of our leading man, he is not helped by the cinematography and make up here, looking even older and more tired than usual. His hybrid accent, which could easily have been explained away in one comment, also doesn’t help, and I say that as someone always wanting to see a fellow Scotsman do well. The film rests entirely on Butler’s shoulders, but he also s hampered by the script, which makes his character seem quite stupid, plots everything out in a careless and lazy manner, and doesn’t even throw in the tropes we so often see in this type of thing (personally, I would have welcomed some extra cheese). Russell Hornsby is the cop on the case, and I have enjoyed his work since I used to watch Grimm, doing the kind of conscientious  police work he could do in his sleep nowadays. Alexander is, understandably, not on screen all that much, although viewers are also “treated” to flashbacks that show marital trouble. Ethan Embry and Michael Irby have a couple of solid supporting roles, with the former being the highlight of the whole film.

I cannot stress to you enough just how bad this is, and how much I was rooting for it to improve at every turn. Butler has charisma, but you wouldn’t know it from his performance here. The same goes for Alexander. If it wasn’t for Hornsby and Embry then this would be unwatchable. As it is, it is a tiresome and dull waste of your time. Don’t be suckered into watching it just because you like the lead actor. He has been paid already, and he probably wants to forget about this as quickly as any of us.

2/10

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