Last Ferry

I just watched this as it had high rating on IMDb. What the hell was that? I've seen far better movies rated 5 or less at IMDb. The acting was okay but the story sucked. Initially it was very interesting but as the movie progressed, became more and more boring. Wasted a lot of time for this piece of crap movie. I'm all for gay rights and all, but doesn't mean you've to rate it high if the movie actually sucked. Disappointed.

The genre of "gay thriller" has definitely been evolving to the point that once in awhile, there are films that exceed expectations. "Last Ferry" is not one of them. While there are some decent performances (Sheldon Best stands out) the rest of the characters really aren't strong enough to "carry" the film (especially the lead, who just spends most of the film practicing his "clueless" expression). While I've never been to Fire Island, I find it a bit hard to believe that in the modern era of cel phones a serial predator who drugs/mugs victims wouldn't eventually be identified. So, from the beginning there is quite a bit of suspension of disbelief to overcome (maybe if this were set in the 70's? Maybe that's actually when it was written? I dunno, but in the present it really doesn't work). There's a little skin, a little eye-candy, a little romance...but all in all it just comes off as a very well-edited and filmed low budget effort with little substance.

Gay themed thrillers are a rarity in the film world. This modest effort starts out well enough. Joseph, a loner/lonely Gay man goes to Fire Island looking for escape from his unhappy job as a lawyer, fun and connection only to discover he's come off season, and doesn't have a clue of what he's going to do or where he'll stay. Warned about the meatrack by an older Gay man (played almost as a predator to the enormous discredit of the script/director), Joseph allows a stranger (but a young handsome stranger) to lure him into the meatrack. Joseph is drugged and mugged, stumbles with a cloudy head and senses of perception towards the beach and sees someone dragging a body to the edge of the water, he runs off and passes out.

When he comes to he is in the living room of a classic Fire Island modernist home where Cameron, apparently the man who found him passed out has brought him to recover. Is Cameron actually a savior, or is he part of the looming dangers of Fire Island?

The film introduces a cast of house guests and it's pretty obvious that Rafael, the hottest, sexiest and most fuckable of all the film's characters is trouble.

The film builds small tensions, but ends with an abrupt stop that left me completely unsatisfied.

Overall, not a bad film ... decent production values and acting was adequate. But do you want to ruin a film right from the get-go ... screw up the ending! That's exactly what the numbskull Writers and Director did with this film. The only reason it got 2 stars from me is what I just said in the previous 5 sentences ...otherwise, it would have gotten only 1 Star. Don't waste your time with this one ... it's not worth the total frustration you'll feel at the end. This Writer and/or Director ought to go back to film school ... they obviously didn't learn a thing about what makes a good movie!!

Last Ferry succeeds in towing that fine line between perpetuating a gay stereotype and being a trite thriller.

And the ending happened. It just... happened. That's all. No resolution. No character growth. No impact. It's like the writer got bored with the script and simply decided to stop.

I was going to give the movie six stars, but then that stupid ending ruined it. So, four stars out of ten. And I think I'm being fairly generous.