The Last Bullet

I only watched it because I happened to turn on the TV when it started, but I got caught right away! First, I love sniper-movies. Second, the tense feeling starts the first minute, showing the australian soldiers, young, inexperienced and nervous. The sniper-parts, when the eighteen year old boy duels with the old, cool and ruthless japanese are excellent. You can sense the feel of someone aiming at your neck without being seen, and the rain and mud creates very "nice" surroundings for this all-out war. The end is surprisinging and fills you with a sense of happiness and feeling of overcoming.

This movie is just excellent. It's a little war movie that no one has ever heard about and that's a real shame. At a quick glance it's not very interesting: an Australian made for TV movie starring Jason Donovan. And it's 90 minutes long (for me that's the definition of TV crap, those 90 minutes). But all is not what it seems. It's the story of an Australian and a Japanese soldier (both the last survivors of their units) that square of against each other in the jungles of Burma in the ending days of WWII. But it's not the action that's the allure of this movie. We get to know these guys with flashbacks to their lives before the war. What's their motivation, their background? They are not one dimensional and we get to know them and learn that neither of them is a bad guy (not even the Japanese who is always portrayed as bad guys in war movies). They are where they are for good reasons and during this movie it's impossible to take sides against either one. They are both good guys and you cry for them and what happens to them.

A great movie about what happens to men during war.

It is a movie that is not shown by TV networks as often as it probably deserves to be especially nowadays when then there are so many conflicts brewing across the globe and "foe" tag often leads to hatred and unjustified murder.

I'd say that here in Europe as well as in the US folks often underestimate australian movie industry which is a misjudgement. Despite the fact that aussies do not make as many movies as Hollywood one cannot deny that australian cinematography is very mature yet really different from both Hollywood and what sometimes is named as the "european" schoool of film-making and that makes it very unique (read - even more interesting).

"The Last Bullet" featuring Jason Donovan and Koji Tamaki in lead roles is just one such example of very interesting, thrilling yet very serious war films, which is in effect a very anti-war movie. I'd note that due to Jason Donovan's pop-singer popularity one may possibly expect something miraculous on his part and some folks were a bit disappointed yet in my opinion what Jason did in this movie is just exactly what he should have done - that movie is not about singing.

Another interesting aspect of that movie is that it is a rare piece of the WW2 episode where Japanese are characters rather then just a "banzai"-shouting mass.

Interesting is that the film director Michael Pattinson is exactly the man who directed the fabulous TV series "The Feds" which is probably the best TV police series ever made.

So, I do not know how you'd be able to see the "Last Bullet" unless it is on your TV station schedule yet if there a chance to do not miss it.

--Feb 2003--

My favorite WWII movie. Period. There are many contenders for the WWII title and this one takes it without much dispute. I keep it next to Lawrence of Arabia.

While I am a fan of war movies (along side a couple of other select genres) nothing makes me hate war more than this movie. It is perfect.

Somewhat reminiscent of Hell in the Pacific with its mano-a-mano style.

--Oct 2013 edit--

Looking back at this film years later it is, admittedly, hard to still call it may favorite WWII movie. Band of Brothers/The Pacific, Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima, and maybe some others are all very good. So what is it about this film that grabs me (or used to grab me)?

The replay value is not all that great. This is not a film that you could probably sell your friends on at a movie party. I gave the film 10 stars perhaps mostly because I judge a film against its own budget and not against other films (and this is a low-budget film). Yet, the production quality is only pretty good, the acting is only pretty good ... everything seems to point to maybe 8 stars at best and not 10. Most of the great films I watch get an 8 or 9 with 10 going to only the truly landmark or innovative films. How is this one of those?

What it comes down to is this: I remember how moved I was when I first saw it. For that, it somehow earned two extra stars. Thus, while during replay (or some other critical viewing) it may be hard to see this value, isn't the emotional response while watching something the first time the true value of a dramatic film?

The stereotyped, ruthless, WWII Japanese warrior is well known in film. Perhaps fairly--perhaps unfairly. I have spent a bit of time researching Japanese culture and their sense of honor. I 'believe' I get the true message of a film such as Grave of the Fireflies (another great WWII movie--certainly the most depressing one) better than many Americans. The Last Bullet took me someplace wonderful in my understanding of Japanese honor: a place where it is impossible to judge which of the two main characters acted more bravely in a difficult situation. Surprising (a lot like how When the Last Sword is Drawn was another surprising film about Japanese honor). The difference between shame and honor is not always apparent--even in Japan it seems. Showing us the human struggle between shame and honor is what makes this film great.

After a knee injury sidelined me for several weeks, I discovered this fine film. Truly a great movie, Jason Donovan plays a very convincing new soldier to the jungles in the end of WWII. After the deaths of all of his comrades, he becomes embroiled in a fierce life or death struggle with the surviving member of a Japanese outpost. The final scenes bring humanity and seems to more personalize the war than most any other movie I've ever seen. This is a very fine film, don't miss it.