The Last Face (2016) User Reviews

Nothing awful, just very forgettable and average

[paulijcalderon · 5/10 · 14 May 2017]

OK, so here we go. "The Last Face" premiered during Cannes last year and it got bashed by critics and even booed at. When I heard about that I couldn't really believe it. I mean, a film directed by Sean Penn starring Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem being that bad? It got me curious to watch it. Because I needed to know if it was getting fair reviews or not. It turned out to be a long wait, because It took a year for it to finally come out in other countries. I went in with an open mind. Ready to give it a deserving chance like every movie does. Well, now after seeing it I understand where the problems lied. Although, I must say right off the bat that it's not completely terrible... But it does get messy.

What I didn't like was that it got exaggerated and tried to force the emotion rather then earning it. The romance was predictable and typical. It goes through all the expected beats of "Will they be together or won't they?" The movie uses narration and I thought it was unnecessary. It would have worked better without filling the audience in on the plot so often. I think people can figure it out perfectly well on their own, because it just added to the melodrama. Which was annoying at times with them over sympathizing the story and dragging out moments. It was good whenever it just calmed down and showed some realism. The premise itself is fine. Doctors going to Africa to help people in need. I understood the overall message of mankind's goodwill. The hospital/doctor scenes had some tension to them and they felt very realistic. There's also a lot of gruesome and horrific imagery of people's misfortune in Africa which was affecting. Those were the parts that stuck with me. The characters were able to convince me in many scenes, but unfortunately not the entire way through. It's sad, because Bardem and Theron looks to have put so much effort into this.

Like I said, the story of them being doctors and traveling in Africa to help people was fine. It was the romantic story that dragged on and felt clichéd. They should have toned it down and made the entire movie more realistic and down to earth. I was able to see glimmers of what could have been really good touching moments. Instead we get too much melodrama with musical soundtrack telling you exactly how to feel instead of the story itself making you feel something. Although there was some music I liked in it: The local African songs and the Piano tracks towards the end. There are scenes that are good. Scenes that feel like real life stories with heart to them. The thing is that we get so few of them spread across the movie. I was never able to truly appreciate those scenes so well because the following part would often drag it down again.

Without spoiling anything, the final moments were finally able to get some emotion across. The ending was my favorite part. It made me finally care for what was going. It was a little too late. But hey, at least it was something. The movie leaves you reflecting on life a little bit. But not nearly as much as I'm sure the filmmakers wanted. It does, however have its moments that work. And for that I will give it points. The movie is not nearly as awful as some people are making it out to be. It's just average. If you are looking for something to pass the time with, then this will work fine. Just don't expect much. It's watchable, but nothing memorable.

Moving picture full of drama , emotion , romance and touching scenes

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 16 March 2017]

This is a thought-provoking and beautifully dramatic film , packing a stirring love story , though slowly paced and paying tribute to the sacrificed doctors working in the African countries . A chief of an international aid agency in Africa called Wren (Charlize Theron) runs the International Council in Geneva , Switzerland , coordinating the international activities common to the operational centres , as well as raising international awareness of potential humanitarian disasters . Then , Wren arrives in Africa and meets a relief aid doctor Miguel Leon (Javier Bardem) who belongs to ¨Médecins Sans Frontières¨ (MSF , vast majority of staff are volunteers) , also known as ¨Doctors Without Borders¨ and both of whom fall in love . The doctor Wren joins a group of obstinate doctors (Adèle Exarchopoulos , Jared Harris , Jean Reno , Denise Newman) who help unfortunate and distressed African people and undergo risked operations to wounded townsfolk . Meanwhile , in Monrovia , Liberia , takes place a state coup , and then they get together to flee from the capital to Sierra Leona . They embark in a dangerous journey which will take various countries risking his own life and pursued by nasty guerrillas .

Intelligent drama with plenty of emotion , moving scenes and sensational performances . This is a deliberately paced flick , a satisfying journey of love , justice and self-discovery amidst political/social revolutions . It displays great feeling , thrills , and provoking melodrama in which a couple takes on strong choices surrounding humanitarianism and tough lives through civil unrest . This brooding flick sometimes results to be slow-moving , relying heavily on the long love affair and both of them compliment each other with their destine to help the unfortunate natives of African countries . Being developed in sensibility and intelligence , here are narrated ethic , moral issues with great sense of ductility and in ¨Terence Malick¨ style . As the stubborn doctors expand accessibility to medical care across national boundaries and irrespective of race , religion , creed or political affiliation . Cast is frankly good and giving top-notch interpretations . As the Spanish Javier Bardem providing an awesome acting , he grants his character a self-righteous drive that is made poignant for her determination and sheer will . Very magnetic performance by Charlize Theron as member of an aid agency directing efforts to provide medical care in acute crises , she gives the right balance of self-righteousness which makes her performance more real , she also creates her character human , heart and determination with her role , not a stereotype . The movie contains thrilling and violent scenes like the breathtaking battle when the military revolutionaries going into the capital Monrovia in blood and fire , as well as rampage , ravage and the indiscriminate massacres carried out by the extremely violent revolutionary guerrillas . And including gory scenes , such as grisly killings in cold blood and an astonishing surgical Cesarian . Beautiful , haunting and mesmerizing cinematography by Barry Ackroyd . Perceptible , and at times rousing musical score by the prestigious composer Hans Zimmer , including some really sensitive songs in African sounds .

The motion picture was professionally -though in complex narrative filled with flashbacks- directed by Sean Penn . Here Penn tells an African story full of death and violence and presents it with impressive truth , though being both , overlong and touching . Sean Penn tops his last directional effort with an intense drama that is moving , scary and down right forthright . This "The Last Face" (2016) will appeal to Javier Bardem and Charlize Theron fans .

Palm to face

[canvionikki · 4/10 · 7 October 2019]

Very deep and meaningful story about the shocking things that are still are happening today, while this film has a very cool cinematic look and great acting it becomes very slow and about 30 minutes to long, the ending is good with a little twist which could easily be missed so pay attention.

The Last Face - Loses its Face and its Way

[krocheav · 3/10 · 11 December 2018]

What might have been a heartfelt African tragedy falters under the heavy hand of Sean Penn who does here, what he once claimed Terrence Malick was guilty of: (with words to the effect... 'Creating something that looked good on paper but failing to transcribe it to film'. Shoddy hand held photography, poor composition, disjointed editing - with scenes that should have been short, left long, and visa-versa. Sound was another problem, people whisper - with it all being so low, as not to be heard. Eye rolling arty shots without purpose - a story that's on again-off again, with performers doing what they can but, being left all at sea by their overindulging director.

A movie maker seemingly pushing his political views - at the expense of third world persons lost to the corruption within their own leaders and an uncaring world - surrounded by repugnant violence (some of the violence is realistically shocking) Mr Penn may (or may not) have his heart in the right place but tends to allow the shadowy edge of politics to blind his visionary vocation. At one point some innocent victims exclaim 'In the name of Jesus' - the people there to help them reply: 'what about in OUR name'? Maybe that's just the point - take Christ's unconditional love from these poor souls and they have exactly nothing! - So, what does the story teller dislike most, the love or the forgiveness? Some music choices on the sound track help to a small degree but sadly, self importance does not, a good movie make. Like other Penn movies this seems to run forever, needlessly.

Don't Waste Your Time

[HeyChipLane · 3/10 · 7 August 2017]

As wonderful an actor(s) as Javier Bardem and Charlize Theron are, I couldn't get past the first 15 minutes. The film starts out excruciatingly slow and doesn't pick up. Sean Penn and Jay Cassidy, both veterans at their craft, had some kind of disconnect. The backdrop of "War Torn Africa" is never used for pacing and therefore the film drags like a turtle walking through mud. The trailer is beautiful, but the film doesn't live up to the trailer's hype.

A roller coaster to nowhere.

[johnanthonymazzei · 1/10 · 25 September 2017]

Hard to watch and listen to. It's graphic so not for the timid. Sound quality is awful. The actors whisper in intimate scenes so the volume must be set high in order to hear them. Which makes the noises painfully loud during the action sequences. The sound editor was definitely asleep at the switch.

The pacing is lopsided. Plot changes gears more than a semi-truck driver in the mountains. The viewer is bounced from one unresolved / open ended scene to the next. Too much screen time is wasted trying to force introspection on the viewers. The aid helicopter slowly lifts off and backs away from the crowd of hopeless people with a few clinging to the helicopter's landing skids. It hovers until after the last person has fallen off the helicopter and back into the crowd. It then slowly, flies forward over the crowd just out of arms reach.

In sum western corporations are bad, citizens of the developed world are bad for not doing more to help and the aid workers didn't enjoy their summer vacation. Just wait for the director's cut to be released all the vehicles will have Anti- Trump bumper stickers.

Expectations

[nospam1974 · 7/10 · 25 January 2022]

Scanning through the reviews on this film was a reminder of just how much impact expectations have on you when you are not aware that you are projecting them. People complaining about the romantic element in the film or the violence are simply upset because they had expectations of what this should have been. Playing the writer and director when they are not.

All too often I come across negative reviews because they had different expectations instead of accepting what was presented in front of them as someone else's perspective, story or art. I find that you enjoy art (of any form) much more when you allow them to express it without projecting your expectations. Imagine standing in an art gallery and staring at a painting and then shouting to the room around you that you would not have used red but instead blue in this painting! How dare they do this! Projecting your expectations on someone or something else is a character defect. While you are allowed an opinion, there's a difference between having an opinion and disregarding someone else's vision because is not in-line with your expectations. Had you maintained an open-mind with no expectations, you might have experienced something completely different. This also translates to life and how you interact with people. Keeping your side of the street clean, so to speak.

And to all the people using the phrase "white savior" and calling the film racist and the people who review it positively, racist, you are sad and pathetic. I understand what "white savior" is supposed to mean in context, but with that mentality, no film or TV show ever again, can have a Caucasian helping someone of color. This is a card that is played by the "woke" culture. Instead of viewing it as a human being helping another human being, you choose to see a white woman coming to the rescue. Who's the racist here? The people that are using these tactics need to grow up and expand their minds a bit.

As far as the movie, I'm not going to review it here. What I got from it really isn't that important. It's what you get from it that matters. I just wanted to voice my opinion regarding the people projecting their expectations in many of the comments not only on this film but across the internet. Not that it matters.

Falls to pieces after a strong start

[Gordon-11 · 6 September 2017]

This film tells the story of a female doctor who goes to Africa for a humanitarian mission. She witnesses many horrors on both a personal and transpersonal level.

"The Last Face" starts off strong by depicting an African community that is savaged by war. The humanitarian workers do what they can with limited resources, amid dangers around them. This transpersonal altruism is to be applauded. However, the film then descends into a Tesla romantic drama. I honestly don't care for their relationships. I actually know for a fact that romance is discouraged in these humanitarian projects, so the film loses credibility once romance is touched upon. What makes it worse is that there is this health scare in the middle of the story, and it is not followed up again. It is a pity, as a film about humanitarian missions could have been tear jerking.

Absolute garbage.

[julian-640-544058 · 1/10 · 13 May 2017]

Although there may have been some substance to the original story, it was certainly lost in the outrageously amateurish directing. A first year film student would have done a more professional job. The performance of the actors was equally disappointing, however this, I am certain, is in part do to poor direction and weak script.

The gore scenes were, I am assuming, intended to shock, but they were so unconvincingly presented that they were more pathetic then disturbing.

This is another example of the Hollywood ultra-left elite blaming "the rich west" for all of the problems in the world, when they themselves encompass a large segment of the "rich west" they are inditing. (Give up YOUR fortunes to save the world? NEVER!) If the tens of millions spent on luxury hotel suites, private planes, chauffeurs, actors and directors salaries and points, and the making of this horrendous rubbish were used to help and feed the 'refugees', I wonder how many that would have saved? Unquestionably more of them then this waste of film did.

Africa that nobody cares about.

[jabandrade · 7/10 · 24 July 2018]

The general low rate given to the film can only be explained by the prejudice to the theme, the Western disinterest in debating Africa. Surely the movie is not so weak to have a 4.7 rating. Anyway, the movie is hard, very hard to watch. It shows one side of African life that no one in the West cares to know, much less give way to. And though a lot of people might think that the realism that Sean Penn employs in some scenes is exaggerated, in fact the real hell out there is much worse than in the movie. In addition we have the hard life of the doctors, impotent in the face of so much cruelty, and who still have to maintain the dignity and the healthy mind to continue his heroic work. Not everyone can handle it. Good performance of Charlize and Javier, in a cast in general quite correct. Unfortunately not everything is perfect and the direction sometimes is irregular, breaking the tense and distressing rhythm of the movie with romantic moments. Still I give 7.0.

I was an ideal I had.

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 1 October 2017]

Dr. Wren (Charlize Theron) is following in her father's footsteps as a humanitarian worker. She comes from a privileged background and spends her time mostly administering to getting supplies to the third world with most of her time being in the field. Here she meets a Spanish doctor, Miguel Leon (Javier Bardem ) and they fall in love, or she falls in love, or maybe he falls in love...but then they were separated for 10 years with both wanting to see each other but don't and there is also no communication between the two creating an awkward head scratching situation. The story utilizes flashbacks and I didn't know half the time what was the chronological order of events except Paraguay 1982 was the oldest and really didn't matter.

There is some first person narration that wasn't that well written. Apparently the film was supposed to show the contrast in our lives, but did so poorly. The emotional problems of Wren I didn't grasp. She seemed overly confused for someone with her intellect. Her final fund raising speech was unmoving... "They are us." 'War attacks dreams." Poverty attacks dreams." She was playing a role that her father had laid out for her and I am not sure if she liked it or not, but they made reference to it a couple of times. "I was an ideal I had" was apparently the theme of the film and Wren unless it was help the refugees.

The film was all over the place. I assume there was a book somewhere that tied this all together. They tried to do too much in the production.

Guide: F-word. Brief sex. Brief nudity.

Thought Provoking

[slhma-86182 · 9/10 · 13 May 2017]

First,let me respond to all the negative reviews of this film.Oh the self-righteousness! Oh the humanity! Yes,this movie is a love story that takes place in Africa amidst turmoil and terror,and yes-its the Africans who are the victims in this movie-not the "white saviors". It never claimed to be anything else. Before I review the actually film,I have to ask people who rated this movie negatively solely for its "white saviors of black people" premise; is it a crime for white people to go to Africa to try to help Africans and also fall in love with each other?In your outrage at believing this movie undermines the humanity of Africans, you strip the white characters of their humanity.I've fought racism all my life whenever the opportunity presented itself,and am a firm supporter of Black Lives Matter.Of course a non-black person cannot say they are anti-racism without immediately condemning themselves to scrutiny and "aha's!" from others.Skipping the am I racist rant,I just could not understand why just about everyone immediately condemned the white lovers/activists for daring to be in Africa to help refugees of war and audaciously fall in love. Should white people stay out of Africa? Yes if they are there to exploit.If they are there to help,then by all means..help.

The film is gorgeous.Charline steals the show once again. The brutality,horror and hellishness of what Africans face is not watered down,not reduced to art.It is full in your face truth.Its funny how people who hate the white activists also seem to ignore the horrors that Africans face in their desperate self righteousness. Throw the baby out with the bathwater I guess? This stunningly beautiful film will stay with me a long time,and I already know it belongs with my other favorites of this genre...which also received poor reviews for the white savior premise....Keys to the Kingdom and The Revenant.White people who bridged the gap between cultures and ethnicities rather than be hateful,violent and racist.These types of movies really tick people off.Tough.The world needs more bridges,less hate and condemnation. The Last Face is a precious gem for that reason...if you happen to go to Africa as an activist, and you want to make a difference in the lives of Africans who have suffered(often because of the west's exploitive racist ways) ...don't feel guilty ,even if you fall in love....

Speek the truth and get lower rating!

[nateghi-alireza · 7/10 · 22 January 2021]

Another movie which speak the truth about the world we live in. We have UN which has budgets of billions, we have US we have European countries they are pretending that they act to finish these things in Africa, but common I don't buy that. USA and other European countries along side with UN seem are trying to helping African people the spend billions of dollars and send lots of doctors engineers and etc for them to help!!!! but they never use their army???!!! You are saying that US only has an army that worth around 800 billions and they can't fight with a group of terrorists in Africa ??? But instead they help them with medicine! What am I missing here, do the world really wants finish this? I think no. but the real question is WHY???

Just ok

[mvkapsiak · 5/10 · 27 September 2021]

Great acting but jumps around a lot and was so hard to follow at times I got bored and gave up. Definitely deals with a tough, really unsettling topic so it's not for the faint of heart.

The single narrative continues

[msbelleo · 1/10 · 25 January 2020]

Waste of time.. If there was a way to get the 20 minutes back of my life I invested into this poorly directed film. Terrible acting, no plot, overkill on the emotional drama. The intentions of this movie is very clear, continued compartmentalization of Africans and the self serving white savior complex.... Very disappointing.

"Hiroshima Mon Amour" Redux

[lavatch · 3/10 · 11 November 2017]

"The Last Face" is a film produced in the mode of mid-twentieth-century European art films like "Hiroshima Mon Amour." The combination of romance with the backdrop of war atrocities had good dramatic potential, but failed to connect the viewer with the historical details of war-torn Africa at the turn of the twenty-first century.

The principal setting is Liberia and the South Sudan. It is there that Dr. Wren Petersen (Charlize Theron) and Dr. Miguel Leon (Javier Bardem) meet, fall in love, and find their relationship affected by the devastation of the casualties and refugees of African civil strife.

The major shortcoming of the film is that the social and political forces at work in Africa are never examined. The premise is the chaos of African civilization, and the film offers a concatenation of scenes in different countries of south Africa. The scenes are brutally honest in the violence, and the filmmakers seek to set them in contrast with the natural beauty of Africa. In those choices, the film flounders in abstraction, as opposed concrete issues affecting the subcontinent of Africa.

The love relationship of the two doctors was not well developed either. The lines of dialogue seemed forced and artificial, as when Wren exclaims, "I could not in those days see God for his creatures" or "So much of the world today has been parted from its dreams." These arty proclamations are not character-driven, but sound like they are coming directly from the computer keyboard of the screenwriter.

The plight of the refugees and the dedication of the humanitarian medical workers were admirably presented in a film that never rose above the level of a paean. Dr. Wren receives a standing ovation when she speaks another pretentious line that "sometimes a face is an illusion" before a large gathering at a highbrow fundraising event.

For the more down-to-earth audience of the film, this set speech, which frames the entire film, sounds too pompous and too abstract for anyone interested in learning about the gritty realities of a troubled continent.

A very bizarre pairing

[Bgappl07 · 4/10 · 18 April 2020]

A lot of other reviewers have gone into the specifics of this movie for me it was excruciatingly slow but what piqued me the most t was the pairing of Bardem and Theron. There is no chemistry there at all not even acting chemistry it was just painful to watch and along with the slowness of the movie and disjointedness as far as I'm concerned it just did not gel

Brilliant, thought-provoking but offensive all at the same time

[Sherazade · 7/10 · 22 October 2017]

When you're trying to bring attention to an issue, especially the injustices of the world like crimes against humanity taking place in many parts of Africa, try...just try not to make a torrid romance the basis for your opus. Someone should have told Sean Penn this when he embarked on the journey it took to make this movie but I guess he was too in love with his then lady love Charlize Theron who plays the lead actress in the film that he felt compelled to pay tribute to her continent by making a film that he hoped would show he cared. The romance between Theron's (Wren) and Javier Bardem's (Miguel) is so embarrassingly distracting that as the atrocities around they pile on, it is hard to feel any true emotion because when the focus should be on such atrocities, Penn focuses his time and energy on the lovers instead. It was almost like making light of a serious issue. That said, the acting was very good which at least saved the script and effort from falling flat on its face.

No Face

[gpxdlr · 3/10 · 26 May 2020]

Watched an hour and quit. Tooooooo slow amd like another comment, Charlize & Javier, nah. Dkip this.

Bewildering Docudrama

[wyldeone2 · 7/10 · 2 June 2018]

I rented this DVD because of the quality actors and director involved with it. I was not expecting lighthearted entertainment and you should not either. The first hour and a half is slow paced and feels like wading through molasses at times. The pace picks up in the last 40 minutes. If you are squeamish toward graphic realism in viewing or hearing about brutality and gore, you may want to pass this one by. The actors and director did a good job in the portrayal of it.

It is mainly a documentary with a bewildering love story woven throughout. If it were a bookend type story of now-then-now, it would be fine for me. I get their point that the doctors and aid staff are humans too and need love in their lives besides their work. That comes from the dialog where they say, "what about in the name of you and me". The back and forth of that story interrupts the flow and obfuscates the point they are trying to make.

Besides the physical love between Wren and Miguel, there is the love of their careers. Wren fell for him and his passion for healing when she arrived in Africa to get a first hand look at the reality her fundraising efforts supported. That was why their relationship failed, they both loved what they did as careers and Wren simply got to the point where she could no longer stomach the repetitious and never ending suffering. She wanted to go back to a safer world where raising money would be valid help for both victims and boots on the ground staff.

The sudden interjection about Miguel's affair with a staffer who contracted AIDS came out of the blue. Basically saying, "women always get duped by unfaithful men". Couples are supposed to be together. Can we actually say, "absence makes the heart grow fonder" in this case?

This is not a political movie unless you want to blame the country in question's government for not protecting its citizens. If they were doing a good job, there would be no need for the rebels doing the raping and pillaging. You may want to blame wealth hoarders who do not offer any or enough toward the plight. That could include politicians as well as celebrities and Wall St. moguls all over the globe. They do not say or imply it is an exclusive problem for the USA to fix.

The ending is similar to Out Of Africa and Blood Diamond, the latter being a better film than this. It is similar in story to Machine Gun Preacher which is an inferior film by the acting. I rate The Last Face a 7.4 out of 10 as opposed to the 4.7 it is showing as of 06-02-2018.

Other movies I have seen on this topic concerning government corruption, the brutality of border crossings and refugee crisis are: Hotel Rwanda, The Good Lie, and The Last King Of Scotland.

Worse movie

[Ioana1717 · 1/10 · 7 November 2020]

This movie is a waste of time. Good actors, but the action, if you can call it like this, is dumb. Worse movie I've ever seen.

An Honest Portrayal of the Life of a Refugee Volunteer

[annabellayarovsky · 10/10 · 9 October 2017]

First let me be honest, this film is shot in a documentary style immersion, so if this subject matter is not in any way of interest to you then yes you will likely find it boring.

Now, to the negative reviews! "White Savior" really? YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! Speaking from years of personal experience, Refugee and Disaster Relief Volunteer, First Responder, and Crisis Area Management Volunteer and not just Africa, Three other continents with (gasp) White people who need help as well! THIS IS A VERY REALISTIC Depiction OF OUR LIVES! Ignorance doesn't even begin to cover the absurdity of you're comments and reviews. MOST of the volunteers are not even Caucasian, we don't just volunteer in war torn countries in Africa (i.e. Bosnian genocide, Ukrainian Occupatiin, Chechneya, Paraguay) and we come from all over the World, speaking every language known to man.

You think we work days at a time without sleep, often not eating, putting our lives in danger every day because we want to be "saviors" LOL? Or wait you think we get paid? We get glory? Our family's support our choice not have a family or relationships, returning home for brief moments and try to reconnect with a world we can't Understand anymore? I'm sure if this film was based in Iraq with what you deem "the real hero's" to be, you would be praising your strong Marines right? The people that get paid a nice hefty sum of money to shoot big guns at civilians in a country that never instigated a war so that the US government can get rich off Weapons Manufacturers Payouts?

NO WE Don't GET ANY MEDALS! We don't get our names in the paper, we pay our own money to Volunteer, and we don't get buried in Arlington Cemetery. We are lucky if our body is sent back home and we often don't care. BECAUSE WE ARE NOT HEROS! HEROS ARE THE 10 yr old Boys that hold on to life with 4 bullet wounds so they can look after the smaller siblings that survived after his family was murdered. HEROS are the 8 yr old girls that have been raped repeatedly by grown men, trying so hard to make sense of what's left of their youth and innocence so they can help other girls like them.

So unless you actually have some experience walking a day in my shoes, or one minute in theirs, I suggest you stick to reviewing "American Sniper"

Boring

[chera_khalid · 5/10 · 2 October 2023]

Scream 2 (1997) stumbles in its attempt to recapture the brilliance of its predecessor, falling victim to the very tropes it once cleverly mocked. The acting feels like a tired encore, with the characters lacking the fresh charisma that made the original so engaging. The film editing, while attempting to maintain the franchise's signature suspense, often feels disjointed, failing to recapture the seamless scares of the first installment. The strength of Scream 2 lies in its sporadic moments of self-awareness, but these are overshadowed by a plot that veers into predictability. The music lacks the chilling resonance of the original's iconic score, and the cinematography struggles to replicate the atmospheric tension. With a 5/10 rating, Scream 2 is a lackluster sequel that, unfortunately, fails to slice through the shadows with the same sharp wit and terror that defined its predecessor.

Unforgettable

[dotbekker · 10/10 · 15 May 2017]

As an African I found the movie a vivid display of the harshness and splendour of this abused continent. It highlighted the unselfish sacrifice that people make to alleviate the suffering of ordinary people and the heartache that so often follows in so many ways. I also found this to be one of Charlie Theron's most honest performances.

We did this

[thinkMovies · 8/10 · 12 March 2021]

There have been many, many awful movies through the ages, all critiqued as such here at IMDB and by professional critics too -But none that I remember was critiqued with such vitriol and, dare I say hatred, as this one.

But it's not this movie that is bad... what's bad is for Americans and Europeans to switch to hateful anger against anything that shows them Africa for what we, westerners, have turned it into.

Sean Penn's The Last Face, with South African Charlize Theron and Spaniard Javier Bardem is no Lawrence of Arabia meets Ryan's Daughter on the Bridge on the River Kwai, hence the eight stars instead of ten. But it is an absolutely competently-made, perfectly convincing, realistic, well-staged, intuitively photographed, honest mirror upon which to gaze at mere snippets of what we have done in Africa -so that we may then break the mirror in denial, yelling bad direction and infantile script. No, sorry, this is a good movie, medium rare instead of well-done and, medium rare is always best when it comes to tasting the blood of something we've killed.

I am not surprised Theron gave such a great performance, as I hear she does care about the continent she's from and the issues there. It was great hearing her speak English, for once, with her real South African accent. Bardem brought the western Mediterranean vulnerable macho to the table. Excellent choice, both, for white-western Doctors in the African savage civil wars. What did surprise me was that an American actor like Sean Penn should have such a profound understanding of what Americans don't see and would have the directorial skill to be subtle about holding our heads to look at it whether we like it or not. Do Sean a favor and keep the volume on high so you can hear what they're whispering to each other at night, just so you can jump out of your seat at the first very loud burst of machine gun fire and explosives.

The love story did not look to me like a "movie prerequisite", unfitting to the subject matter. It felt completely natural and real, and the narration would have felt false without it: it was needed. Both doctors needed it in order to survive what they were witnessing on a daily basis for years. And it was honest. Sure, sure, the lines were not Shakespeare, but real people don't speak like poet laureates or award-winning script writers in real life.

Oh, and the atrocities were not overdone, or "refugee porn" like someone called it: The imagery and actions were still pretty tame and movie-rating accessible compared to what's really going on in Sierra Leone and South Sudan.

I recommend this as great movie to watch and I am wondering whether I should stop short of calling it an Important movie. Nope, I think it may well be an important one.