The Last Scout

A pretty decent space thriller. The atmosphere and script were good, though at times the acting was a bit over the top. The sound quality was weird at times, echoey and hard to understand.

Decent special effects but some props like the control panel were pretty bad ... like someone taped a bunch of iPads to it with abstract images being displayed, decided it didn't look "spacey" enough, and attached some obnoxiously flashing lights which obviously had no purpose beyond flashing constantly.

The plot was fairly well developed, and neither innovative or derivative. It was interesting enough to keep me watching it, but not very memorable. Basically a decent way to kill a couple hours.

One of the most boring movies i have ever had the displeasure to wear my TV out on watching. So bad it wasn't funny! the actual acting wasn't too bad but Geez the cinematography!, the cockpit looked like a gray box with some 7" tablets as instrument panels with flashing lights all the same color on it! I wish i hadn't watched the thing now!

As for inside the ship! oh my god! probably the best way to describe it is it was done on a budget of $50

Don't waste your time!

...and so it should be! When mankind destroy the Earth in 67 minutes, it falls to some astronauts to seek out a suitable new home for who's left of us somewhere in the galaxy. Now proof, if it were ever needed, that we need to work on our disaster-planning recruitment process now ensues as this motley and increasingly dysfunctional bunch on the "Pegasus" encounter a derelict spaceship populated by mysterious children. What now plays out is a predictable cat and mouse, spaceship, drama with nobody sure who to trust; old grudges rearing their ugly heads and the future of humanity clearly placed in the most precarious of situations. To be fair, the production standards and visual effects are not the worst, but the inane and plentiful dialogue and a shockingly mediocre cast of drama school drop-out types do the mean, moody and magnificent in an almost embarrassingly risible fashion. It's an old story that is clearly a labour of love for Simon Philipps and Paul Tanter, but it's not an original bone in it's body and at only ten minutes short of two hours - well, it's just far too long and meandering. I love my sci-fi, but this is really pretty derivative and poor.

First to say, this is not a new 'Sunshine' (2007), nor 'Pandorum' (2009) . If you want one of those, you have to look elsewhere.

The basic story is quite similar though - a spaceship, here not so big, and with only a few people on board, searching for the last resort of mankind , while earth herself is nearly destroyed. The main difference to 'Sunshine' and 'Pandorum' is the amount of bloodshed, and also the budget, which was approx. a tenth of each of the former's.

It may be true that the first 40 minutes are a bit hard to overcome for the average sf-action lover. There we learn to know the crew, which is a bit of a family since they are now together for seven years, as we are told. The movie takes it's time to establish a certain mood of day-life, instead of bringing up severe conflicts or delusions and problems immediately. That's OK, if you ask me, I do sometimes like a more lifelike approach. And who, when not astronauts, should be able to live through such a long journey ?

When the ship encounters the derelict ship, as described in the story-line, the movie gains momentum as it should, and it doesn't lose it until the end, providing enough tension and action for a rainy evening in front of the flat-screen. Acting is solid, directing and special effects are OK for a Direct-to-Video or Video-On-Demand production (which I assume it is).

As the budget may dictate, 'The last scout' cannot claim to be special or outstanding, like said examples, and it doesn't want to. Instead, it tells its story, and this is where it looses some stars, the story ingredients are too much copied from those other movies, minus a certain amount of their violence, to be suitable for families, I think. It would have taken only a bit of time to form a more creative and interesting solution within the premises, at least avoiding said big models. So, for the SF veteran, the outcome and the explanations toward the end are a bit disappointing.

I can give the movie yet 6/10, as 5 would be too low in my eyes.

Remember Sunshine (2007), where people are dying on a spaceship that was on a suicide mission to save humanity? More specifically, remember that part where they decide that they should take a detour from their mission to do something that wasn't on the schedule. Now, think about how that movie would have played out if they didn't make that stop? Kinda boring, right? But it made sense somewhat... the detour had a rational justification. I mean, it wasn't like Aline, where some off-camera mega corporation was moving in the shadows searching for a super weapon. It wasn't like 2001, where a transistor just happened to fail. Nor like Ad Astra, where ... gee wiz there's a ship floating out there... we have to stop and see if they need help... alright... I don't want to make any spoilers. Let's just say if you are counting the number of space-mission films that rely on the old "unplanned encounter" with a broken down ship was the entire catalyst for the drama, then you might run out of fingers and toes to count them on. And once you see this formula presenting itself, it's time to tune out the movie because what you guess is going to happen is probably going to happen. And don't forget Event Horizon... when somebody looks like they are cracking up in space, what you guess is going to happen is also probably going to happen. This old saw has been making the rounds since John Carpenter put it to good use in the satirical low budget cult film "Dark Star". Well, The Last Scout is basically Dark Star in reverse, and I think it's safe to say that the actors took their roles about as seriously as those who plied their craft in 1974 for a laugh.