The Last Thing He Wanted (2020) - USA
Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)
This is a total disappointment of a film that boasted with an A-list casting and dampened by a hampered script and direction that is all over the place. A lack of vision from the director Dee Rees never settle for a particular genre instead blends a crime thriller, war journalism and illegal firepower trafficking and family drama all into one spiral of a film. There are many aspect of disappointment that contributed to the failure of the film as a whole and in the meantime wasting the efforts of the hard working Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck and Willem Dafoe.
Anne Hathaway stars in the central role of the investigative journalist caught in the middle of a political and arms trading deal that involve spying and counter-spying. Willem Dafoe manages to phone in a drunken and near-death dead beat of a father. Ben Affleck only scene of note remains how he manages to bed Hathaway in a story that went totally haywire.
All in all, “The Last Thing He Wanted” is a waste of a good premises, quality cast and adequate budget that could have created something more memorable and noteworthy. Instead, we get something that pops out here and there without any kind of grounded location or consistent messaging of any sorts. It’s a tough film to seat through and as you reach the finale, your common sense or logic is likely to be removed.
I rated it 3/10