The Last Scout

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.

It starts off watchable, albeit dull. When the low budget sfx for the outside of the ship and space look superior in realism to the inside of the ship, it is not hard to imagine that is only the beginning of the problems. I like sci fi movies, and I take the leap of the parameters they set up. This movie, though, just gets moronic. There are way too many times were this future spaceship doesn't even have the same obvious tech that was present a long time before today. Then, in the last 15 minutes or so, the movie just collapses at it tries to get the ending it wants when it had already painted itself into a different corner.

I gave this B movie a chance because the trailer made it look like Sunshine or Event Horizon, but it's nothing like that. The characters talk for about an hour like a cheap TV show until something finally happens. The first 40 min could have easily been cut. But even after a little action finally happens, then it's back to more talking until the end of the movie. The trailer only shows that 5 minutes where something actually happens. But the actual movie is just people talking. The special effects are obviously bad, but they do the job. The actors are okay but the problem is that the script is awful. The plot is just not interesting and just tries to recycle better films. This is advertised as horror-sci-fi but it's not scary or even tense, there's just nothing happening, and even when you think something has happened, the big reveal is lame. It's more of a drama-sci-fi. Better just rewatch Event Horizon or Sunshine instead.

Truly awful. I just kept watching in disbelief just to see how bad it really was. Essentially a really low budget rip of sunshine, with some ships nicked from prometheus. But wthout any emotion, story. suspense, intrege, wonder, excitement or anything at all to justify the ninety minutes of life that you will never get back...

from me its gets a zero.

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.