A combination of road trip drama, sentimental memory piece, and nostalgic look at the glories of World War II, “The Last Rifleman” wants to be many things. Unfortunately, Kevin Fitzpatrick’s script fails to give any of these themes the dramatic weight or character arc they require. Thierry Loann directs all of this with a smooth but somewhat indifferent hand, unable to overcome the limitations of the script. As the title suggests the veteran, Pierce Brosnan becomes the main reason to watch.
Brosnan is 92-year-old Artie Crawford, living in a nursing home in Northern Ireland while suffering poignant and disturbing flashbacks to World War II, when he fought alongside his best friend and fell in love with the woman he eventually married. Facing the end of his life, he decides to return to Normandy to visit the place that haunts his dreams. Despite the heavy, distracting makeup he used to age him by two decades, Brosnan grounds the film with a warm, grounded performance. It remains watchable no matter what ridiculous tricks the plot throws at it. It’s unfortunate that the film continues to shy away from the star, because it could have been much stronger if it had focused on his character.
As Artie makes his way to France, he relies on the kindness of strangers. Even though his passport has expired and he is diabetic, he is still able to find his way. He meets a nice French lady (Clémence Poésy) who hides him in her fifth wheel while they are crossing the canal. A friendly boy (Samuel Bottomley) helps him deliver. There’s even a nice German guy (Jürgen Bruchnau) who once belonged to the Hitler Youth. Artie’s fun encounters with each of these one-dimensional characters serve mostly as vehicles for plot exposition.
To fill in the gaps in Artie’s backstory, Loane constantly resorts to flashbacks. They are so numerous and indistinguishable that they lose their dramatic force. In one scene, The Last Rifleman briefly comes to life when John Amos joins Brosnan as another World War II veteran. Fitzpatrick dedicated the screenplay’s only poignant line to him about how “these older men live with ghosts.” Amos’s delivery conjures a gravitas that numerous flashbacks couldn’t muster. But even then, he has to endure some not-so-funny jokes about aging and drinking whiskey before he’s allowed to show genuine emotion alongside Brosnan. It’s understandable that the movie doesn’t want to be a sad story, but these silly jokes and poor characterization don’t help.
In addition, a lot of time is spent unnecessarily in the care home as its administrators try to figure out how Archie escaped and where he is. The audience is forced to follow the not-so-humorous attempts of Artie’s friend (Ian McElhenney) not to reveal his escape plans. Somehow, there’s also a subplot about a journalist (Desmond Eastwood) following Archie as he tries to uncover this story. Since the true story inspired the film, there may be some real-world parallels to this subplot, which the film reduces to pathetic scenes of a journalist uncomfortably trying to sleep on a plane and unable to drive his rental car due to its French-speaking language. GPS. The emotional power of Brosnan’s performance is tempered by these monotonous passages of the main narrative.
“The Last Rifleman” has a simple, straightforward story at its center, while feeling nostalgic for a more beautiful, morally uncomplicated moment in history. It also has a tender love story about growing older and living with grief. However, the filmmakers don’t trust the audience to be able to handle these obvious elements alone, so they add uncomplicated humor and built-in characters, thus stranding their capable leading man in a dull film. Whatever life Brosnan tries to infuse into the proceedings is undermined by everything surrounding his performance.