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THE LAST MANHUNT
Director: Christian Camargo Cast: Christian Camargo, Martin Sensmeier, Mainei Kinimaka, Wade Williams, Jamie Sives, Justin Campbell, Mojean Aria, Raoul Max Trujillo, Brandon Oakes, Zahn McClarnon, Lily Gladstone, Amy Seimetz, Jason Momoa MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:43 Release Date: 11/18/22 (limited; digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | November 17, 2022 While following the posse searching for a man accused of murder and kidnapping, a journalist suggests that his reporting is in need of a hero. That's also the case with Thomas Pa'a Sibbett's screenplay for The Last Manhunt, which attempts to deconstruct the legend of the final manhunt of the Old West but never finds a solid character or perspective to accomplish that task. Instead, we mostly follow the usual players in such a tale: the lawmen who make it their mission to achieve justice. Meanwhile, the character at the heart of the real-life story and the legend behind it is ignored. He's known as Willie Boy (Martin Sensmeier), a young man from a Native American tribe who has fallen in love with Carlotta (Mainei Kinimaka). The girl's father (played by Zahn McClarnon) disapproves of their relationship, and after the father tries to prevent the couple from running away together, Willie accidentally shoots and kills him. From there, Willie and Carlotta spend the rest of the story on a trek by foot across the California desert toward Nevada, encountering little resistance, save for an inopportune snakebite, and offering little more insight into their character or situation beyond dreams of a happy future together. Since the killing occurred outside tribal land, local lawman Sherriff Wilson (director Christian Camargo), a grieving widower and alcoholic, is called in to find Willie and "save" Carlotta. The President of the United States is coming to these parts soon, so the job has to be finished quickly. There's an unfortunate lack of focus here, especially when it comes to which character or characters really matter. Until the story actually becomes about who gets to tell this tale and why, it's also missing the sense of some central, cohesive theme. The lawmen are portrayed as spouting good intentions while displaying failings of character, overt racism, or general incompetence. That depiction certainly gives one a sense of the filmmakers trying to pick apart the very essence of the legend of the Old West (The journalist, played by Mojean Aria, and his penchant for sensationalism or outright lies make that notion fairly clear). However, the lack of attention on Willie and Carlotta, as well as the way in which other Native American characters are dismissed as soon as the plot is in motion (Two tribal police officers, played by Raoul Max Trujillo and Brandon Oakes, are a slight exception), is even more of a shortcoming within that context. Much of this, then, feels as if the filmmakers are simply going through the motions of a familiar, generic story of lawmen and outlaws. While it's clear that there's more to the goal and meaning of this story by its finale, The Last Manhunt barely introduces those deeper ideas, let alone explore them in some meaningful way. Copyright © 2022 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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