Last Seen Alive (2022)
Last Seen Alive (2022) races onto screens on June 3, 2022 (limited theaters, then Netflix), as Brian Goodman’s taut action-thriller, a $10 million indie that pits Gerard Butler against a small-town nightmare. Butler stars as Will Spann, a real estate developer spiraling when his estranged wife Lisa (Jaimie Alexander) vanishes from an Alabama gas station during a tense drive to her parents’ home. With time ticking, Will bulldozes through suspects—Russell Hornsby’s dogged Detective Paterson, Ethan Embry’s twitchy mechanic Knuckles—and a meth-ring underbelly, his desperation igniting a one-man rampage to find her before she’s gone for good.
The dynamic crackles with Will’s frantic grit—Butler’s gravelly roar powers every punch—against Lisa’s ghostly absence, Alexander’s fleeting warmth a haunting echo. Hornsby’s cop simmers with weary resolve, Embry’s Knuckles twitches with sleazy dread, and their small-town web tightens as Will’s rage unravels. The action snaps—gas station brawls erupt with raw fists, a trailer shootout blazes with shotgun fury, and a forest chase twists with desperate stakes, each beat a nod to Taken’s relentless drive under Goodman’s lean lens.
Visually, it’s a Southern stunner—Alabama’s backroads shimmer with humid gloom (shot in Georgia), captured by Peter Holland’s shaky, Prisoners-like lens that dives into the muck. Practical grit—blood smears, tires screech—grounds the chaos, while minimal CGI keeps it real, paired with Sam Ewing’s score of pulsing drones and jagged strings that echo Will’s ticking clock. It’s a nowhere town where hope fades, every frame a cry in the dark.
Grossing $5.7 million (Box Office Mojo), it hit Netflix’s U.S. Top 10 (August 2022), nabbing 44% on Rotten Tomatoes—praised for Butler’s “everyman fury,” panned for thin plotting. X buzzes with “Gerard’s growl”—a sleeper hit reborn online. Last Seen Alive (2022) isn’t deep—it’s a lean, mean chase, a B-thriller that runs on fumes and fury to a breathless end.
Rating: 7.5/10