The Last Sentinel
The Last Sentinel
The Last Sentinel (101 Films/(Yet) Another Distribution Company) 2023 Digital release
Opening with the scene of a ship in a storm, the crew fighting against all odds to keep afloat, sheets of seawater coming from all directions and burst pipes spraying everywhere, ‘The Last Sentinel’ wastes no time on the course of its 117 minutes. Written by Malachi Smyth and directed by Tanel Toom, it arrives in digital format on 24th April.
The year is 2063, and the world is grappling with the dire consequences of global warming, violently changing weather patterns and a war that seems to have been raging forever on what is left of the land. Much of the action takes place on a lonely sea fort, where the crew defend their fort from long-feared enemy attack, whilst awaiting much-needed supplies from the highly anticipated relief ship. Their constant attempts to contact their base via radio are going unanswered, and the crew are also having to reckon with the irony of being on board a sea fort where water supplies are running low and fish are getting more difficult to catch.
Tensions are running high as the engineer Baines (Martin McCann) blamed for persistent generator failure, responds with barbs about the laziness of other crew members in catching their staple diet. Top of the agenda is what they propose to do about their precarious situation, given that they have signed up to a two-year mission and have no means of making the sea crossing to whatever is left of their home. Their captain, the stony faced Hendrichs (Thomas Kretschmann) is having none of this talk, will not tolerate dissent, and even disapproves of the levity of the totem-like waving gas balloon has installed on the deck of the fort.
Spotting a tiny detail on the horizon, the captain orders the gun be readied to open fire, and Cassidy (Kate Bosworth) spots a blip on the radar corresponding to the object. All attempts to communicate with the supposed enemy ship fail, and the captain prepares the on-board nuclear device for detonation. Taking a small craft out to investigate the ‘wreckage’ Sullivan (Lucien Laviscount) discovers an abandoned but fully equipped ship, with no sign of where and when the crew left. Sullivan sends a signal back to the fort just in time before the gun and nuclear device are fired. The crew feel that the abandoned ship presents them with an opportunity to get home, but their captain has other ideas.
‘The Last Sentinel’ is a good, gripping and claustrophobic eco-thriller with elements of the ‘Marie Celeste’ about it, and even a hint of ‘Alien’ with its tension wracked marooned crew who have little prospect of getting home alive.
Scenester
23/4/23
Trailer:
Watch here:
https://www.roku.com/en-gb/whats-on/movies/last-sentinel?id=7da5aac5c94c542d8a29218232799df9
