The Last Warrior Reviews

Films pitting a lone American soldier against an Asian counterpart in a remote island setting have long existed as a sub-genre of the war film. Combining action and symbolism, these films not only provide opportunities for fast-paced, visceral excitement, but also allow capable filmmakers to juxtapose the divergent cultures represented by the adversaries. Writer-director Martin Wragge's ambitious THE LAST WARRIOR emerges as a carefully crafted but self-consciously arty effort that sacrifices suspense and excitement for obtuse symbolism and self-defeating displays of cinematic technique. Jim Kemp (Gary Graham) is the sole American soldier posted on an obscure island in the South Pacific during the final days of WW II. Assigned to watch the coast and maintain radio contact with the faraway Allied command, Kemp shares the island with several other Westerners--a priest and several nuns. His idyll comes to an abrupt end when a Japanese ship suddenly appears in the bay. Despite all of its visual sophistication and notwithstanding the physical intensity of its performances, THE LAST WARRIOR is ultimately static and stultifying, bound to make the action-oriented audience at which the film's ad campaign was aimed twitch impatiently in their seats.