Nasty, nihilist movie a new low
Review The Last Days of American Crime (16+, 149 ins)
Directed by Olivier Megaton Reviewed by James Croot ★
Seemingly not content with mining his policies for comedy in Space Force, Netflix now appears to have decided to give the 45th President of the United States some ideas.
No doubt the embattled Donald Trump would love a tool that promises ‘‘no more violence, no more felonies, no more lies’’ (up to a point, anyway).
That’s how the government has sold the controversial American Peace Initiative (API) in this 2025-set, graphic novel-inspired action movie.
Having developed it in secret for years and tested it on prisoners during the past few months, ‘‘the signal’’ is ready to be rolled out nationwide.
Acting as a synaptic blockage, it will prevent people from doing anything they know is wrong, thus eliminating criminal behaviour on a national scale.
Many have already fled across the border to Canada, but serial bank robber Graham Bricke’s (Edgar Ramirez) similar plans seemingly evaporated with a betrayal and the death of his beloved baby brother in prison.
However, that was before he met Kevin Cash (Michael Pitt). A reckless progeny of a crime family turned legit, he plans to use the signal against the authorities to steal $30 million in one last heist.
Cash believes that with the help his hacker fiancee Shelby Dupree (Anna Brewster) and muscle Bricke, they can leave a legacy and escape the country with a decent stash.
Delivered with breathtakingly awful timing, this nasty, nihilistic tale deserves a wide berth.
At least an hour too long, screenwriter Karl Gajdusek’s (Oblivion, The November Man) story is just a jumble of ideas and stylistic tics hoarded from better movies like Upgrade, Minority Report, Resident Evil, The Purge and Suicide Squad (well, maybe that’s a stretch).
Even then it’s a film, to paraphrase the streaming service’s most famous lifestyle guru Marie Kondo, you’ll find no joy in.
Director Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3, the Taken sequels) directs with the subtlety of his main protagonist’s surname, relying on an incessant score and a weird combination of British classics by The Specials, Depeche Mode and Portishead to paper over the paucity of decent dialogue and dreary action.
There are predictable scenes in nightclub toilets, underground carparks, penthouses and caravans, and Brewster’s character is treated appallingly and shot somewhat leerily.
Yes, this might be a film set in an alternate future, but The Last
Days of American Crime is very much mired in a depressing past.
Less blockbuster, more Blockbuster bargain bin, less Fast and the Furious, more loud, lurid and laborious, less film noir, more black-hearted grim and grimy crime movie, Last Days disappoints on every level.
Every double-cross permutation is explored, all three main characters are dealing with sibling obsessions (even though one of them is constantly referred to as having ‘‘Daddy issues’’), Sharlto
Copley’s (District 9) seemingly important cop character disappears for at least an hour, and our ‘‘hero’’ accepts a government cheque just minutes before he plans to skip town.
It all might add up to perfect, blinkered bunker viewing, according to some subscribers’ algorithms, but this is one cinematic Crime the rest of us should avoid.
The Last Days of American Crime is streaming now in Netflix.