‘The Last Manhunt’ Movie Review - A Glorified Runaway Case

The Last Manhunt starts with stating historical facts: “Based on true events from the oral history of the Chemehuevi India Tribe of California” and “Story of Willie Boy The Desert Runner”. These two lines increase our hopes as we expect that we’re going to witness something of historical importance. These hopes get shredded to pieces in no time. The amount of time wasted in the film on unnecessary things must have been exhausting for even the cinematographer of the film.

Joshua Tree, California, 1909 is where the film starts. Carlota and Willie Boy are in the desert taking a rest. They find solace in each other. Soon, Carlota’s father finds them and takes his girl back home. He couldn’t accept Willie Boy as her lover because he was Carlota’s fifth cousin. These lovers aren’t ready to give up on their love yet and hence, Willie Boy makes another attempt and makes Carlota run away from her home.

While running away, Willie Boy accidentally shot Carlota’s father, who ended up dead. Thus, began ‘The Last Manhunt’. What follows is that Native Indians and Sheriff with his other men start tracking these two with their different motives. While the Sheriff wanted to catch Willie Boy alive, the Native Indians wanted to cut him into pieces. It is better if you don’t watch the movie beyond this point as it's just a waste of time.

I didn’t quite understand the point of making this film. Understandably, a couple ran away for their love, but how can the miseries of their lives be served as a movie for the audience? The incidents taken from history could have been molded into an interesting story, but what did the creators opt for instead? - A boring tale with no message or entertainment.

Rather than focussing on the pair or their love story, it seemed to have an interest in the tensions existing between the Sheriff and Hyde. If they had chosen the love story as the key element, the movie would have been something else. The main motive should have been to show how these two lovers were on a hunt for such a long time. And, why were the creators interested in Randolph, the journalist? This all doesn’t make any sense at all.

The elements of the film have been loosely woven making the film a disaster. It is known that apart from the main plot, subplots also hold equal importance. How the subplots were given more importance than the main one is still a question that the people involved in the film need to answer.

The cast of the film did a decent role, and their hard work wasn’t justified due to the bad script. Do not expect that you’ll get a dose of a historical event or even drama in the film. Your dose of history will be just limited to the few lines that have been included at the start and the end of the movie. That’s all, just skip this film as it is a lost cause.

Final Score – [3/10]
Reviewed by - Riya Singh
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Publisher at Midgard Times