High-Octane
Summary
The Last Ronin may have a familiar story however, it looks gorgeous and has enough action to keep you engaged.
Plot: Nuclear war and climate change have rendered the world a wasteland. In a landscape where survival is not guaranteed and bullets are the only currency, Ronin (Yuri Kolokolnikov) seeks revenge for his father’s murder. A young girl requests his help to return to her birthplace, a dangerous journey which will require all his fighting skills to survive.
Review: I often wonder why we all love the post-apocalyptic genre so much; if I see a movie where someone is walking across a wasteland battling marauders I am 100% there for it. The Last Ronin is one such film and although not being anything we haven’t seen before, it looks utterly gorgeous with some shots I could do a freeze frame of and hang on my wall.
The way certain scenes are framed are perfect and when it comes to the action everything is clear. We get violent fights, limbs being lopped off and a mini gun scene which is always the highlight of any movie.
It also has a fantastic Carpenter-esque synth score which captures the mood of the film to perfection.
Our hero known only as Ronin (Yuri Kolokolnikov) wanders the wastelands looking to avenge the death of his father. Along the way he meets a young girl who hires him to help her return to her birthplace and get revenge. Yuri looks the part as the lone warrior and we’ve seen him before in shows like Game of Thrones.
For the first half of The Last Ronin it seems business as usual with our duo coming across masked marauders who need dispatched, but the second half changes things up and it’s not afraid to get a little weird. There is a throne made of guns and a crown of bullets which is awesome and I love how the currency in this dystopia is bullets which feels very fitting.
The pacing does meander at times and a few moments could have been shortened to help move things along. It does give us time to get to know the Ronin and the girl so we get to empathize with their plights.
Overall, The Last Ronin has some stunning visuals and brutal kills with some impressive fight scenes and a cool music score too; some of it feels familiar and the pacing does lag occasionally, but this is still an entertaining post-apocalyptic ride.