
‘Last Days’ Review: Justin Lin’s Break from Fast & Furious Is an Underwhelming Drama Mired in Religious Zealotry
Feb 4, 2025
Justin Lin is a filmmaker now synonymous with the Fast & Furious franchise, having directed six installments, including the fan favorite, Tokyo Drift. What many might not know, though, is that his roots are in indie filmmaking, bringing his sophomore film, Better Luck Tomorrow, to Sundance in 2002. In his return to the festival, Lin casts aside high octane and big budgets for his take on real-life missionary John Allen Chau’s final days. In Last Days, we follow John Chau (Sky Yang) from his beginnings as an aimless student to his extreme descent into missionary life that led him to North Sentinel Island.
Attempting to return to his indie roots, Last Days is a more grounded approach to storytelling and Lin closely follows Chau’s life to track his journey from devotion to zealotry. Coming in at a hefty 120 minutes, Last Days struggles when it comes to deciding what it thinks about Chau’s decisions. It doesn’t cast judgment, but that’s what ends up being its biggest flaw. Hamstrung by a bloated storyline, Lin’s Sundance return lacks the punch it needs to make a proper impact and comes off as confounding and lackluster.
Justin Lin’s ‘Last Days’ Is Based on a True Story
It was surprising to me that out of all subjects to capture Justin Lin’s interest, it was John Allen Chau’s life that inspired a full-length feature. But, of course, upon closer inspection, it’s easy to see what about Chau’s life is so compelling. Based on the article “The Last Days of John Allen Chau” by Alex Perry for Outside Magazine, John was a Christian missionary whose ambitious trip to North Sentinel Island not only put him in the spotlight but also led to his death. For the uninitiated, North Sentinel Island, a small island in the Indian Ocean, is one of the few places left in the world that is completely separated from modern society. Not only are the tribal natives on the island isolated, but they are aggressive and violent to any outsider trying to make contact.
A lot of this, as Perry writes, is an old hostility that comes from a history of slave raiders. “That reasoned xenophobia was reinforced by British colonialists, who turned their muskets and cannons on the islanders, stole their land, then stood back as pestilence carried off most of the population,” Perry explains. And it’s true, most people who hear John’s story might believe that this man reached his justified end. He broke the law and sailed to an island where he was not wanted, where he aimed to force his religion on a group of people who did not want to be converted.
Much of Last Days is trying to give us insight into John’s life based on his extensive journals and interviews with family and friends. Chau was prolific; he was on social media, he wrote journals, and he made friends everywhere he went. There were plenty of people who could attest to the fact that he was not racist or some kind of colonizer. Yes, his mindset and approach to the North Sentinelese had roots in colonialism, but Perry’s article paints a very fair image of him as a man who is complicated and can’t be defined by just one label. However, this is not the John Chau presented in Last Days.
‘Last Days’ Only Serves To Stereotype John Chau’s Life
Image via Sundance Institute
Rather than offer some nuance to John’s life, Last Days doesn’t do enough to either condemn or redeem John. Perhaps Lin’s point is to remain somewhat objective, but that doesn’t help the story. It’s only through Alex Perry’s article that I understand some of the reasoning behind John’s mission. It wasn’t purely some misguided attempt at doing what was never done before. There had been other missionaries who did what John set out to do and succeeded. More importantly, the film centers a lot of John’s emotional struggle with his relationship with his father (Ken Leung). However, the film does not do enough to explore this relationship, focusing on a storyline with a policewoman named Meera (Radhika Apte) investigating John’s disappearance instead. Although Apte’s character is entertaining and her performance is compelling, it is undoubtedly the weakest aspect of the film and one that largely feels extraneous.
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Nicole Beharie completes their magnetic trio.
Unfortunately, her role opposite Naveen Andrews, who plays her boss, fits in with Lin’s storytelling style more than the slow contemplation of Sky Yang’s John. Yang’s performance is shaky at times, but it’s hard to criticize the actor when the character himself is written to be so grating. John’s persistent positivity and delusions do nothing to humanize him, instead making him seem more and more unhinged. His zealotry is not backed up by much reason, which makes justifying or even supporting his actions difficult. John lives in the extremes, but Last Days operates in moderation. The two approaches are not symbiotic at all and only serve to make John seem, at best, like a delusional idiot and, at worse, like a villain in his own story
Justin Lin’s Approach to ‘Last Days’ Lacks Connection
Image by Photagonist
One of the most compelling parts of Alex Perry’s article is the fact that Perry himself offers insight that no other writer can give. He, like John, was also a backpacker in his twenties. A lifelong traveler, he too desired to go to places untouched by others. He wanted to visit the Andamans, the archipelago that North Sentinel belongs to. In fact, outside of the religious empowerment, Perry’s life gives him a unique perspective that the film could have benefitted from greatly. There was a way to tell this story that does not demonize John Chau. Instead, it could have offered insight into the life of a man whose death became the butt of jokes and a target of criticism. At times, it’s not clear if we’re meant to side with the Christian missionaries. It’s not hard to see how problematic their approach to missions is, but John, as our protagonist, never achieves a moment of clarity.
And not to defend Christian missionaries, but Perry does point out in his article that of these island tribes, the only one that has managed to escape being dependent on the state and lose their culture is the Nicobarese, who were able to keep what they had in thanks to missionaries, says an anthropologist from Port Blair. At no point does the film use facts like this to help the viewer understand where John Chau is coming from. Last Days instead leans into his insecurities, not his natural love for nature.
It’s hard to find any redeeming qualities in Last Days. Its pacing and multiple storylines, not to mention jumping back and forth in time, only work to make the viewer disoriented when it comes to bonding with a character who already does not feel that sympathetic. Visually, Oliver Bokelberg’s cinematography paints beautiful vistas and landscapes as the backdrop for John’s adventures, but a lot of that is also due to the natural beauty of their on-location shoots in Thailand. Justin Lin’s newest indie project is not a return to his indie roots. Last Days does not do enough to make its leading character sympathetic or interesting and Lin’s unwillingness to stand firmly on a perspective makes it a weak showing for the filmmaker.
Last Days premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Last Days
Justin Lin does not do enough to make ‘Last Days’ leading character sympathetic or interesting and his unwillingness to stand firmly on a perspective makes it a weak showing for the filmmaker.
Release Date
January 28, 2025
Runtime
120 minutes
Writers
Ben Ripley
Cast
Pros & Cons
Visually, the filming locations and cinematography are beautiful and offer stunning views of nature.
Performances feel weak across the board and don’t do enough throughout the 2-hour runtime of the film.
The story is not balanced, spends too much time with other storylines rather than just focusing on the complex protangonist.
Lin’s approach to the story is missing the nuance that the original story had.
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