Director David M. Parks and screenwriters Anthony Leone and Ovsanna Yepremyan’s Last Hit is a 90-minute, spartan action thriller that has all the gun-toting, fist-fighting goodness you’d expect, but with a soulful character-driven subplot akin to David Mamet’s Gene Hackman-led Heist.
Vincent and Maya (Mike Ferguson and Twana) have been in the rackets most of their life. They’re both strong, fierce, capable operators, but it’s a hell of a thing putting your head on the chopping block every time you go into action. Maya doesn’t want this way of living for either of them anymore, and Vincent is done with gambling on the fact that he may or may not come back alive from score to score. Like De Niro in Heat, our lovers are looking to land that last hit, make bank one more time, then they’re out. No more risks, no more dealing with the dark underbelly of society or playing chess with death. After this gig, it’s a life of leisure and liberty.
“…our lovers are looking to land that Last Hit, make bank one more time, then, they’re out.”
Still, in the criminal world, no one gets out clean, let alone may just walk away. So when the final mission led by Lana (LeeAnne Bauer), niece of kingpin Dante (Levee Duplay), turns out to be a mere charade, set up primarily for Dante to rid himself of his competition, Vincent and Maya take the cash and turn their backs. Yet, when millions of ill-gotten cash are still out there and up for grabs, Dante refuses to accept his minion’s resignation. The freedom-longing couple find themselves tricked, traced, and trapped, until, with Maya held with a gun to her head, Vincent, to save his wife, steals himself for a showdown. Lana, having already tried to reconstitute with a different crew, does not know that she has also fallen under the wrath of her ruthless uncle. The price of release from living a life on the line will be high, the odds against our heroes increase, and a trap closes.
Thanks to the director and the writers, Last Hit is a stylish, brisk, and satisfying tale of unseen schemas, treacheries, and unanticipated coalitions. The entire cast meets this assignment head-on, with the good guys and the bad guys impressing with more than just shallow character cut-outs. Even side players like Cody Cowell’s Jack represent with nuanced turns, separating them from just mindless heavies.
Last Hit is rapid fire fun with equal amounts of shooting, slugging, and substance to make it an easy choice for lovers of crime stories, heist movies, and just good old-fashioned fights against all odds to escape old lives. As The Outlaw Josey Wales once said, “dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’,” and this picture shows us a glimpse of the guts it takes to fight through the darkness, to get back to the light.
"…rapid fire fun..."
