‘Last Days’ Review: Sky Yang Excels in Justin Lin’s Muted Missionary Man Adventure [B-] – Sundance Film Festival
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Justin Lin’s first non-franchise feature in 18 years, Last Days heralds his return to independent filmmaking. The technical polish he has acquired during his time in Hollywood – with five entries in the Fast and Furious canon – is unmistakable even in the absence of a studio budget. The new film chronicles the intriguing real-life events surrounding John Allen Chau (here played by Sky Yang), the evangelical Christian missionary who traveled to North Sentinel Island in hopes of converting hitherto uncontacted tribesmen and ultimately met his fate – a story which has already spawned the 2023 documentary The Mission.
The opening scene takes place in 2018, as John approaches North Sentinel on a raft loaded with gifts such as fruits and fish for the tribe. But his friendly gesture is instantly met with a shower of spears, forcing him to take cover beneath the capsized raft. The scene kicks off the film with a bang, allowing Lin an opportunity to harness his knack for action sequences.
After the American consulate contacts Indian authorities to report John missing, Sub Inspector Meera (Radhika Apte) immediately shepherds an investigation. An airport customs officer stops American Chandler (Toby Wallace) for questioning, and soon after Meera gleans from Chandler‘s Instagram feed that he indeed knows John and is carrying John’s backpack. Inside it is a journal that provides her plenty of context and leads to aid the inquiry.
Cut to 2014, as John is about to wrap up his studies at Oral Roberts University. His dad, Patrick (Ken Leung), gifts him a stethoscope for graduation, because of course John is headed to medical school against his will. But Patrick is arrested for illegally prescribing painkillers to undercover agents, and John seizes the opportunity to drop out. In 2015, he goes on a missionary trip to Kurdistan, where he first meets Chandler, who talks up North Sentinel as the Mount Everest of mission work. A lot of this background is supposed to tell us how John becomes a zealot, but it doesn’t quite do that.
In 2016, John completes training at Anchorites in Macon, Ga., (which is curiously changed from the original real-life All Nations in Kansas City, Kan.) to learn requisite survival skills such as how to start fires and fix cars. He also participates in drills that include the likes of simulated kidnapping and confrontations by staff posing as hostile indigenous people. The film observes this with a sense of cool detachment, not fully conveying how a 25-year-old might have felt when thrusted into those situations. John seems so in his element that he glosses over repeated warnings that his goal is impractical and dangerous.
The mood is contemplative, and not exploitative like Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno. But perhaps a balance can be strived for here while still remaining respectful of indigenous people. Lin does his best with the material. A climax that intercuts Patrick’s telepathic hunch that something has gone terribly wrong with a flashback to John’s traumatic childhood experience at the state fair is so masterfully done that it ultimately helps the film overcome its deep flaws. By far the most glaring one has to be Nathan Alexander’s music. It is so boilerplate that it saps any urgency, suspense or danger from the proceedings.
Those morbidly curious about the subject matter are unlikely to satiate their interest through this film. Screenwriter Ben Ripley doesn’t shed any light on the strained father-and-son relationship or the reason John is so susceptible to evangelical Christian indoctrination, or if the two are at all linked. It’s not for a lack of trying – we do see in flashbacks that as a child John is very taken with Patrick’s painting that earns first place in the state fair – but the dots don’t connect or leave a strong impression. Ripley inexplicably fleshes out Meera’s character, which feels like it should be part of a different movie. He is also obviously not best equipped to contemplate, beyond stereotype, the Asian patriarchal psyche. Leung’s performance only conveys stiffness, not sternness.
Yang rises to the occasion with a revelatory performance. There is no show-stopping scene of John wrestling with his religious fervor, but perhaps that has more to do with the lack of opportunity provided by Ripley or Lin. Oliver Bokelberg’s photography and Dylan Highsmith’s editing make the film complementary to Lin’s fast-and-furious oeuvre. It really needs a better soundtrack to complement the rest of the craftsmanship. Hopefully this film will spur Lin to develop his skills as a dramatist and create more personal stories concerning the AAPI community.
Grade: B-
This review is from the 2025 Sundance Film Festival where Last Days had its world premiere. The film is currently seeking U.S. distribution.
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