The Last Gunfight

Cast View all

	Jon Voight	Nathaniel Turner
	Adam Woodward	Steve McCabe
	Charlotte Vega	Ella Talbot
	Eloise Lovell Anderson	Samantha Griffin
	Rade Serbedzija	Anton Skoll
	Daniel Bernhardt	The Reverend
	Andy Lister	Jamison Corgan
	Sam Symons	Jimmy
	Dearbhla Molloy	Trudy
	Shaina West	Lauren
	Pancho Moler	Timothy Mandrake
	Max Kraus	Ryan Winters
	Lewis Jamison	Will Griffin
	Brock Pierce	Peter Demarest
	Gen Seto	Mr. Sun
	Zachari Popov	Ali Al'Sabar
	Sean James Sutton	Karl Tubin
	Luka Peros	Vlad
	Skyler Shaye	Debbie
	Christiana Robinson	Arya
	Alix Villaret	Celine
	Alexsandria Ralev	Melinda
	Todor Parpulov	Anton Skoll Guard
	Ivan Rangelov	Gang member

Crew View all

Director	James Bamford
Writer	Steven Paul, J.D. Zeik
Producer	Danail Hadzhiyski, Vladimir Karanikolov, Scott Karol, Zuzana Martinková, Kyle Otto, Steven Paul
Musician	Rich Walters
Photography	Ivan Vatsov

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Notes

My quick rating - 5.1/10. In The Last GunFight, the premise is about as subtle as a hammer to the skull: fighters from all over the world are pitted against each other in a death tournament with vague rules, lots of blood, and a puppet master pulling strings behind the curtain. It’s a setup we've seen before, but to its credit, this film knows exactly what it is and leans hard into it.

From the jump, you’re hit with dialogue so cheesy it could either be parodying trashy reality shows or earnestly trying to match their tone. It's tough to tell, and that ambiguity ends up being part of the movie's oddball charm. Within minutes, we’re introduced to the tournament, its bizarre broadcast format, and a handful of character archetypes that range from the expected (the angry priest, the cocky wildcard, the vengeful parent) to the outright bizarre.

Speaking of vengeful parents, The Last GunFight somehow convinced Jon Voight to show up and deliver what can only be described as a paycheck performance. He plays a father on a mission, and if you can't guess the motivation the moment someone says “father,” you might want to revisit a few old revenge flicks. Still, Voight manages to elevate the trope slightly just by being, well, Jon Voight.

The movie's biggest surprise is probably Sam Symons’ Jimmy, a textbook dork with a secret savage streak. Sure, it’s telegraphed from the moment he steps onscreen, but his transformation is played with such wide-eyed intensity that it becomes oddly satisfying. Likewise, Shaina West once again proves she’s got the chops (and the kicks) to be an action mainstay. After The Killer’s Game, it’s fun to watch her wreak havoc on a new set of opponents. More of these two and less of the failed romance subplot, and we could've been going somewhere.

Writer Steven Paul and director James Bamford do attempt to inject some narrative twists into the formula, and while a few hit, others feel tacked on to delay the inevitable slugfest. Fortunately, they know better than to let the plot slow down the violence for too long. At just 89 minutes, the movie races through its runtime like it’s dodging a punch, and the pace rarely lets up.

My shout-out goes to the "gun round." Yes, that’s a thing — where the action choreography shifts into overdrive. It's ridiculous in the best way, and the film actually manages to pull off some impressive visuals, especially considering how often these kinds of low-budget bloodsport flicks rely on laughably bad CGI. Here, the blood effects are surprisingly fluid and less distractingly digital than expected.

Still, there’s a limit to how much gloss you can slap on a B-movie brawler. The Last GunFight never breaks out of the genre’s constraints, and it doesn’t seem particularly interested in doing so. But for fans of underground death match mayhem with a few plot curveballs and a solid dose of carnage, it delivers just enough to be worth a watch, especially if you keep those expectations in check. Just don't expect any of the actors to mess up their hair in the process.

And who knows? Maybe one day these reality shows within the movie will get greenlit in real life. When they do, we might all have to reckon with the uncomfortable truth that it isn’t just the rich tuning in.

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