Review: Oscar Winners Richard Dreyfuss & Mira Sorvino Tackle A Crime Story In The Revenge Thriller THE LAST JOB
The Last Job (aka Crime Story) took me by surprise. I was expecting a by-the-numbers revenge thriller with Richard Dreyfuss seeking revenge on those who wronged him. Yes, that’s the general plot to writer/director Adam Lipsius’ thriller but the film is much more layered than that. I was really taken by the father-daughter dynamic between Dreyfuss and fellow Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino – and this gave the film a humanity which is often missing from films of this kind. It’s a redemption story about trying to right the wrongs of your past, but also coming to terms with your own mortality.
Dreyfuss is Ben Myers, a former gangster with a terminal cancer diagnosis who is seeking revenge on those who have stolen his ill-gotten gains. Myers must avoid catching the attention of his estranged police detective daughter (Mira Sorvino) as he searches the mean streets for those who have taken is cash.
Richard Dreyfuss has alway been a captivating performer. Going back as far as George Lucas’ American Graffiti in 1973, the actor has infused all of his roles with a certain realistic humanity. His turn as an ageing mobster in The Last Job is no different. He may be tough and violent but he feels like a real man with real problems. Mia Sorvino also delivers a complex performance as the daughter who wants to take her life in one direction, but feels restricted by her father and his criminal past. As a writer Adam Lipsius makes some interesting choices in the relationship between the two characters and this is what takes the plot of The Last Job in an interesting direction.
Good performances from the leads and a few complex plot points mean that The Last Job delivers unique ideas which bump it up above the average revenge thriller.
