Last Ride (2009)

by missizziemcguinness

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‘It doesn’t matter anymore because he’s dead now,‘

Last Ride is an Australian movie about a father Kev (Hugo Weaving) and his son Chook (Tom Russell) who are on the run but things start to dwell into something more harmful as they battle their troubled relationship in order to survive as he’s trying to avoid suspicion for a crime that he committed.

I have now watched a few of Hugo Weaving’s smaller films, such as The Mule, Healing, Strangerland, Oranges and Sunshine, Priscilla, Mystery Road and Proof. The material in Last Ride is raw and he plays the part of Kev incredibly well. One minute, he’ll be telling his son how to survive with a rabbit and a rifle around a campfire and the next he’ll be abandoning him in the middle of nowhere to teach him a ‘lesson’.  His character clearly had some emotional issues and you forget that he’s in The Matrix when you watch his low budget films. The temperamental emotion that he puts into the film is unbelievable and Tom Russell (the little boy) is a very promising actor and I think he’s done a few other things since then. Despite the fact that I began to hate Kev (but not how Hugo Weaving played it), the ending was moving. However, due to the topic of child abuse, domestic violence, violence and crime explored in the film, I feel like I can’t really like the film as much as I could.

I felt scared, like the little boy, of the unpredictability of Hugo Weaving’s character. I wouldn’t consider this as my favourite film but Weaving and Tom Russell worked together so well on screen, backed up by the smaller characters. I can also see why it is highly underrated yet it is visually stunning. The boy’s red safety coat could also represent a feeling of security.

Great cast and a generally touching film. I also feel like this could be compared with Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’ and the film of the same name for many reasons. I also like how it makes you think long after you’ve finished watching the movie. It is also based off the book ‘The Last Ride’ by Denise Young.

3/5