#thelastthinghewanted

I want to be a fan of Netflix as a production house and film distributor, but sometimes, the final product does not stand up to the expectations set when one examines the cast and crew.  Don’t get me wrong, Netflix has created a handful of impressive winners, but for each of these films, there are a handful of forgettable drops peppered along the way.  I mention this because a recent watch made me think of Netflix’s missteps, despite the promise held from the aforementioned elements... I can only think of what The Last Thing He Wanted could have been in a perfect world.

Journalist Elena MchMahon (Anne Hathaway) and her photojournalist partner Alma Guerrero (Rosie Perez) write for the Atlanta Post, mostly covering war conflicts and skirmishes with United States military involvement.  MchMahon uses her keen intuition to identify (and attempt to uncover) the Iran/Contra and Sandinista scandals, but finds herself reassigned to the 1984 Presidential Campaign.  Begrudgingly, she accepts, but soon abandons the assignment to take care of Dick McMahon (Willem Dafoe), her dying father.  Unkowningly, Dick is involved in the exact same gun-running situation that Elena was investigating, and in the attempt to help her father out, finds herself transferred from investigator to participant.

Maybe it’s just me, but this movie feels like Netflix is fishing a bit for Oscar bait.  With Dee Rees coming off of the critical acclaim and success of Mudbound, and names like Anne Hathaway, Willem Dafoe, Rosie Perez and Ben Affleck attached, it’s clear that clout was a key factor in the production.  The story focuses on Contras and Sandinistas (giving it current historical relevance) as well as familial espionage, the film itself is a period piece with a darkly dramatic narrative, and the main leads are roles that give women empowerment and agency.

The play is an ambitious one, but the film falls a bit short in terms of production.  The location shoots work well enough, but once Elena is put on the campaign trail, the minimalist presentation does not play as well as intended (if there was intention at all to the decision), and is noticeable enough to distract viewers.  Pacing and tone are tossed a bit to the side as a trade off for actors to play for dramatic moments, but unfortunately, most of what is asked of us is not necessarily earned.

The main issue with what the films seems to ask of us stems from its inability to commit to a theme, tone or solid narrative string.  A historically accurate political-based thriller switches to a foreigner trapped in a foreign land narrative with a lack of stakes, but all the time it wants to be a film about broken families and strained relationships.  As a result, the film finds it hard to hold viewer interest despite trying its best to impress us with the actors cast and the performances given.  Everyone is serviceable in terms of their performance, but Rosie Perez is really the only one that offers any true depth or range.  Anne Hathaway and Ben Affleck mostly play things by the book, while Willem Dafoe falls short of the high bar he has earned due to a lack of material to work with.  Edi Gatghegi and Mel Rodriguez are memorable in their brief appearances, while supporting appearances by Toby Jones, Carlos Leal, Onata Aprile, Ben Chase and Julian Gamble round things out.

You can tell director Dee Rees and co-writer Marco Villalobos love The Last Thing He Wanted. They crammed every detail from the novel into their screenplay without hesitation, resulting in a plot only they understand.

Having seen first-hand the horrors committed by the Contras in Nicaragua, journalist Elena McMahon is outraged when she's assigned to cover the 1984 U.S. Presidential election instead. When her estranged father (Willem Dafoe) becomes hospitalized and tells her of an upcoming arms deal he has arranged in Central America, she decides to take his place to learn more. Who's letting these weapons “disappear”. Why?

It sounds like a mistake for a reporter to suddenly become an arms dealer but in Elena’s defence, she proves herself reasonably capable when things go sour. Her motivation is believable. Still a mistake, but at least the rationale is there.

Things go bad. Now, the people her father was dealing with, the Contras, and several government bodies all want Elena. Who can she trust? Either you figure out what this person’s role is quite easily (like Edi Gathegi’s “Jones”) or you think you know but you’re never quite sure, like Ben Affleck’s character. You’re expected to figure things out for yourself but aren't provided the pieces to do this. Some characters are introduced and then disappear. Are they just hiding in the shadows? No, their part in the story is over. This one guy… you know him because he was in the background of that one scene. Must mean he’s important, right? Not at all. So why was he even there?

That’s a question you’ll often be asking yourself. You can tell pages of a way-too-long script have been tossed to cut this film down to reasonable length. In one scene, two people are talking. In the next, they just finished having sex. What? I never detected even a hint of chemistry between them and when you consider the film’s ending… why include this when those moments could’ve been used to develop the characters in meaningful ways. Critical details are placed far too late into the film. Here's an easy example. We learn Elena is a breast cancer survivor but obviously, Anne Hathaway still has a full chest. The whole movie you're wondering who goofed until we see her pad her bra. Did it have to come so late? I’m unsure if I was barely able to remember who’s who and what’s what because of the writing or because I was too distracted by what I thought was a huge costume department oversight for ninety minutes!

When The Last Thing He Wanted ended, I was tempted to start it over to see if I could make more sense of the story’s overly dramatic and ultimately unnecessary bookends, politics, and characters. A second go wouldn’t make a difference. The picture moves just fast enough and provides just enough thrills for you to keep going but the journey’s not worth the destination. and vice versa. (October 4, 2020)