I gave this B movie a chance because the trailer made it look like Sunshine or Event Horizon, but it's nothing like that. The characters talk for about an hour like a cheap TV show until something finally happens. The first 40 min could have easily been cut. But even after a little action finally happens, then it's back to more talking until the end of the movie. The trailer only shows that 5 minutes where something actually happens. But the actual movie is just people talking. The special effects are obviously bad, but they do the job. The actors are okay but the problem is that the script is awful. The plot is just not interesting and just tries to recycle better films. This is advertised as horror-sci-fi but it's not scary or even tense, there's just nothing happening, and even when you think something has happened, the big reveal is lame. It's more of a drama-sci-fi. Better just rewatch Event Horizon or Sunshine instead.
44 Reviews
Goofy!
davidvandekerk3 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This was one bizarrely confusing movie. What a mess!
I could forgive the sets and the cheap CG. But when they don't even have a decent plan for what the movie is supposed to be ... man it was painful. I could manage to figure out what the basic story line was but I have no idea WHY half the drama on board happened. Why were they freaking killing each other?
Any good movie starts in the script. If the script is good it can get by with mediocre special effects, unimaginative sets and unpolished acting. Unfortunately this movie had a confusing, muddled script. For large parts I just couldn't figure out what went on.
I like Sci Fi so I will up vote it from 3 (which it really deserves) to 4 for at least TRYING to make a Sci Fi movie.
I could forgive the sets and the cheap CG. But when they don't even have a decent plan for what the movie is supposed to be ... man it was painful. I could manage to figure out what the basic story line was but I have no idea WHY half the drama on board happened. Why were they freaking killing each other?
Any good movie starts in the script. If the script is good it can get by with mediocre special effects, unimaginative sets and unpolished acting. Unfortunately this movie had a confusing, muddled script. For large parts I just couldn't figure out what went on.
I like Sci Fi so I will up vote it from 3 (which it really deserves) to 4 for at least TRYING to make a Sci Fi movie.
Another case of copy-cat conflict.
gdeangel19 February 2020
Remember Sunshine (2007), where people are dying on a spaceship that was on a suicide mission to save humanity? More specifically, remember that part where they decide that they should take a detour from their mission to do something that wasn't on the schedule. Now, think about how that movie would have played out if they didn't make that stop? Kinda boring, right? But it made sense somewhat... the detour had a rational justification. I mean, it wasn't like Aline, where some off-camera mega corporation was moving in the shadows searching for a super weapon. It wasn't like 2001, where a transistor just happened to fail. Nor like Ad Astra, where ... gee wiz there's a ship floating out there... we have to stop and see if they need help... alright... I don't want to make any spoilers. Let's just say if you are counting the number of space-mission films that rely on the old "unplanned encounter" with a broken down ship was the entire catalyst for the drama, then you might run out of fingers and toes to count them on. And once you see this formula presenting itself, it's time to tune out the movie because what you guess is going to happen is probably going to happen. And don't forget Event Horizon... when somebody looks like they are cracking up in space, what you guess is going to happen is also probably going to happen. This old saw has been making the rounds since John Carpenter put it to good use in the satirical low budget cult film "Dark Star". Well, The Last Scout is basically Dark Star in reverse, and I think it's safe to say that the actors took their roles about as seriously as those who plied their craft in 1974 for a laugh.
No Sharp Edges, But Not Boring
pontram20 March 2017
First to say, this is not a new 'Sunshine' (2007), nor 'Pandorum' (2009) . If you want one of those, you have to look elsewhere.
The basic story is quite similar though - a spaceship, here not so big, and with only a few people on board, searching for the last resort of mankind , while earth herself is nearly destroyed. The main difference to 'Sunshine' and 'Pandorum' is the amount of bloodshed, and also the budget, which was approx. a tenth of each of the former's.
It may be true that the first 40 minutes are a bit hard to overcome for the average sf-action lover. There we learn to know the crew, which is a bit of a family since they are now together for seven years, as we are told. The movie takes it's time to establish a certain mood of day-life, instead of bringing up severe conflicts or delusions and problems immediately. That's OK, if you ask me, I do sometimes like a more lifelike approach. And who, when not astronauts, should be able to live through such a long journey ?
When the ship encounters the derelict ship, as described in the story-line, the movie gains momentum as it should, and it doesn't lose it until the end, providing enough tension and action for a rainy evening in front of the flat-screen. Acting is solid, directing and special effects are OK for a Direct-to-Video or Video-On-Demand production (which I assume it is).
As the budget may dictate, 'The last scout' cannot claim to be special or outstanding, like said examples, and it doesn't want to. Instead, it tells its story, and this is where it looses some stars, the story ingredients are too much copied from those other movies, minus a certain amount of their violence, to be suitable for families, I think. It would have taken only a bit of time to form a more creative and interesting solution within the premises, at least avoiding said big models. So, for the SF veteran, the outcome and the explanations toward the end are a bit disappointing.
I can give the movie yet 6/10, as 5 would be too low in my eyes.
The basic story is quite similar though - a spaceship, here not so big, and with only a few people on board, searching for the last resort of mankind , while earth herself is nearly destroyed. The main difference to 'Sunshine' and 'Pandorum' is the amount of bloodshed, and also the budget, which was approx. a tenth of each of the former's.
It may be true that the first 40 minutes are a bit hard to overcome for the average sf-action lover. There we learn to know the crew, which is a bit of a family since they are now together for seven years, as we are told. The movie takes it's time to establish a certain mood of day-life, instead of bringing up severe conflicts or delusions and problems immediately. That's OK, if you ask me, I do sometimes like a more lifelike approach. And who, when not astronauts, should be able to live through such a long journey ?
When the ship encounters the derelict ship, as described in the story-line, the movie gains momentum as it should, and it doesn't lose it until the end, providing enough tension and action for a rainy evening in front of the flat-screen. Acting is solid, directing and special effects are OK for a Direct-to-Video or Video-On-Demand production (which I assume it is).
As the budget may dictate, 'The last scout' cannot claim to be special or outstanding, like said examples, and it doesn't want to. Instead, it tells its story, and this is where it looses some stars, the story ingredients are too much copied from those other movies, minus a certain amount of their violence, to be suitable for families, I think. It would have taken only a bit of time to form a more creative and interesting solution within the premises, at least avoiding said big models. So, for the SF veteran, the outcome and the explanations toward the end are a bit disappointing.
I can give the movie yet 6/10, as 5 would be too low in my eyes.
Stupid Movie!
prsguitar1238 December 2017
Warning: Spoilers
If you are going to kill everyone off in the movie except two small children..... What is the point? This movie was stupid in my opinion! If you are going to make a movie...at LEAST make it believable!This whole thing about sabotage is stupid.....anyone sabotaging a mission like that would only kill themselves! But I guess the idiotic makers of this movie did not have the brains to think that through!
Dreadful British indie sci-fi
Leofwine_draca24 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
THE LAST SCOUT is a dreadful British indie science fiction picture made on just a couple of sets. There's a lot of bad CGI here and a basic storyline that copies ALIEN (as normal), but in terms of scripting this is a truly dreadful experience. It's impossible to figure out what's going on or why the people are fighting because it's so badly written and hastily put together. Non-actor Simon Phillips, of the dreadful JACK SAYS trilogy, is equally bad in support here, and he's no great shakes as director either. Some of the actors give it their best shot but this is terrible whichever way you look at it.
doesnt deserve a high ranking even graded on an indie curve
bsx-0538411 February 2018
It starts off watchable, albeit dull. When the low budget sfx for the outside of the ship and space look superior in realism to the inside of the ship, it is not hard to imagine that is only the beginning of the problems. I like sci fi movies, and I take the leap of the parameters they set up. This movie, though, just gets moronic. There are way too many times were this future spaceship doesn't even have the same obvious tech that was present a long time before today. Then, in the last 15 minutes or so, the movie just collapses at it tries to get the ending it wants when it had already painted itself into a different corner.
B movie? Nope, much worst!
dagallop27 January 2019
Oh my, if the acting was any more cardboard they could have done this with puppets and frankly it probably would have been better!
This is so boring that a fast forward button is an absolute necessity. The special effects are so bad that taking your glasses off (if you have the benefit of them) can dramatically improve the watchability! The sets are so 'high school' video project that I suspect that is exactly who made them.
The script writer should have been gagged and silenced although I suspect that the original story would have been good in print? At times the conversations are cringeworthy, so bad that a volume control should be hand at all times.
In short, you WILL NOT get the time back that you waste on this but, you will probably appreciate a few other bad movies a lot more based on your experience.
Yeuch. Just so bad it is really yeuch.
Bad but not enough to be funny
retrolover-7704716 September 2019
Not bad for budget sci-fi
JRmf20 March 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Movies like this one which are essentially stageplays won't please the crowd looking for spectacular CGI and action sequences. I liked it because the story was mostly logical and credible. CGI was adequate and cutaways to exterior ship views were done appropriately. Some of the acting isn't going to win any Oscars, but it's generally adequate.
Most of us are blissfully ignorant of, or have forgotten the nuclear Damoclean threat which has lain dormant for 73 years, but who knows, 2065 might be the year...
The movie is not without faults: A serious flaw was how the probe was unable to detect an atmosphere full of methane and nitrogen. That could have been detected spectroscopically from orbit, no need even for a probe. Then of course they would not have bothered wasting their precious fuel landing there and picked the other world instead, which turned out to be like Eden. "Hull fractures" which appear at very inconvenient times seem difficult to understand.
Also I didn't understand was why Gerry went berserk and became murderous, especially when one death was explained by the Chinese psycho lurking in the Pegasus. While getting stabbed in the torso by a 4 cm scalpel blade would not be pleasant, I doubt if would really stop a healthy opponent from pulling away and fleeing or fighting back.
If you like sci-fi, you may well like this one.
Most of us are blissfully ignorant of, or have forgotten the nuclear Damoclean threat which has lain dormant for 73 years, but who knows, 2065 might be the year...
The movie is not without faults: A serious flaw was how the probe was unable to detect an atmosphere full of methane and nitrogen. That could have been detected spectroscopically from orbit, no need even for a probe. Then of course they would not have bothered wasting their precious fuel landing there and picked the other world instead, which turned out to be like Eden. "Hull fractures" which appear at very inconvenient times seem difficult to understand.
Also I didn't understand was why Gerry went berserk and became murderous, especially when one death was explained by the Chinese psycho lurking in the Pegasus. While getting stabbed in the torso by a 4 cm scalpel blade would not be pleasant, I doubt if would really stop a healthy opponent from pulling away and fleeing or fighting back.
If you like sci-fi, you may well like this one.
really, really rubbish
vlady_200917 May 2018
Loved this film. Why the hate?
milotindle-9210228 June 2020
Low budget, but generally enjoyable
Valentijn7830 August 2018
A pretty decent space thriller. The atmosphere and script were good, though at times the acting was a bit over the top. The sound quality was weird at times, echoey and hard to understand.
Decent special effects but some props like the control panel were pretty bad ... like someone taped a bunch of iPads to it with abstract images being displayed, decided it didn't look "spacey" enough, and attached some obnoxiously flashing lights which obviously had no purpose beyond flashing constantly.
The plot was fairly well developed, and neither innovative or derivative. It was interesting enough to keep me watching it, but not very memorable. Basically a decent way to kill a couple hours.
Decent special effects but some props like the control panel were pretty bad ... like someone taped a bunch of iPads to it with abstract images being displayed, decided it didn't look "spacey" enough, and attached some obnoxiously flashing lights which obviously had no purpose beyond flashing constantly.
The plot was fairly well developed, and neither innovative or derivative. It was interesting enough to keep me watching it, but not very memorable. Basically a decent way to kill a couple hours.
I just feel sorry for the actors.....
btsmikey23 March 2018
Truly awful. I just kept watching in disbelief just to see how bad it really was. Essentially a really low budget rip of sunshine, with some ships nicked from prometheus. But wthout any emotion, story. suspense, intrege, wonder, excitement or anything at all to justify the ninety minutes of life that you will never get back...
from me its gets a zero.
from me its gets a zero.
The worst sound i have ever experienced in a movie.
Poster177313 June 2018
I would have given this movie 5 stars, as it wasn't bad. However, the music is so loud (and there is music playing almost constantly), that you can't hear people talking, and no, its not my PC. Other Prime Video's are fine, and you can see other reviews talking about the same thing.
It's hard to believe they would release this in its current state.
It's hard to believe they would release this in its current state.
Music background so loud
NaserAltameemi30 December 2019
Bad story, bad effects, a predictable and pathetic ending
barbatrukko-4501421 September 2020
The interior of the spaceship looks like that of an old ship from the 1920s.
Hundreds of useless screens everywhere and a central computer capable of doing almost anything, not even translating Chinese.
In the dashboard hundreds of LEDs light up at random indicating nothing: this was tolerable in a SciFi movie of the 60s, but not in a scifi of today!
In the plot choices made at random and without logic, especially in the final. The last 30 minutes a delirium!
Big Technical Problems
mcglynn213223 January 2020
While the plot was interesting, the technical problems with this movie make it nearly unwatchable in the print used on Amazon Prime. Dialog recording is practically intelligible for far too many scenes and the CC is not synced as a alternative. For a movie that clearly had financing for CGI, releasing it like this is inexcusable. What a waste.
The most amateurish film ever
tjbrian-2005513 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I read the reviews for this movie but gave it the benefit of the doubt. All I can say is that the reviewers were extremely lenient! The story line had some credence until the characters ran out of direction. I have never seen such an abominable display of acting in any movie prior to this. It is summed in in one of the final scenes when one of the crew, who's position I could never figure out; either he was a stowaway or I had nodded off at a critical moment(!) has a knife to one of the few remaining crew member's throat. The Captain, armed with an advanced rifle, gives up and puts his gun down only to be stabbed himself, give me a break! Do not watch this movie or you will lose an hour and a half of your life that can never be replaced, unlike the cast of this mov1e.
Slow at times but very earthy and realistic feel
charlesqdu19 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Good psych expo of human reaction to nearness of death.
One thing I couldn't figure out is what Gerry's role on the ship was, besides being the psyko killer. He's not the engineer, not a pilot, not a medic, not the planetary scientist. He killed expertly enough, but hardly a marine in physique. He knew Chinese and how to sabotage the computer, so maybe a programmer?
Just what we need, a villain that is an overweight, knife wielding programmer.
One thing I couldn't figure out is what Gerry's role on the ship was, besides being the psyko killer. He's not the engineer, not a pilot, not a medic, not the planetary scientist. He killed expertly enough, but hardly a marine in physique. He knew Chinese and how to sabotage the computer, so maybe a programmer?
Just what we need, a villain that is an overweight, knife wielding programmer.
Very poor
salim_eraj24 July 2021
Half of a great movie...
ulisses_phoenix5 July 2020
For a low budget movie, this film had great acting, an understandable plot, and believable dialogue -- for the first half of the film. The cinematography was very good considering the budget, except it was often way too dark, probably to hide the lousy sets. The score was pretty good, too. But those sets and props, wow, pretty bad. Clothes dryer vents hanging from the ceiling, and the crew was wearing 3M respirators freshly painted over with shiny spray paint and snow boots for their spacesuits. And the ship was held together with tapered wood screws!
Okay, they couldn't afford props. But as I said the acting was well above what you normally see in these cheap films. Plus there was actual character development -- the audience really got to know who those folks were on that spaceship. With real, natural dialogue.
But about midway through the film, it completely falls apart. It's like two different people wrote the first and second half of this film. It starts off as really great straight science fiction movie with a real, consistent plot and characters. Then halfway through, it turns into a snuff film. And the plot scenarios just kept getting more and more ridiculous -- one improbably situation after another. And in the second half of the film, none of the behaviours of the characters had any motivation or grounding in reality, whereas in the beginning, their actions were consistent with their characters and the situations they faced.
Another great thing about this film was that it was very progressive on race. This very small set of characters included a black man, and he had a romantic relationship with one of the (white) female astronauts. There wasn't any hint of derision or bias that I could detect. I'm adding a couple of points to my rating for this fair treatment of race.
My recommendation is to watch the first half of this film until they have the code orange. (It's explained in film -- it happens about half way through.) After that, just turn it off, and write your own ending. It has to be better than what they did to the second half of this film.
triggers: gory depictions of corpses; gory violence; gun (laser) violence
rating 7/10 (for the first half); (submitted July 5, 2020, 1:55 a.m. EDT)
Okay, they couldn't afford props. But as I said the acting was well above what you normally see in these cheap films. Plus there was actual character development -- the audience really got to know who those folks were on that spaceship. With real, natural dialogue.
But about midway through the film, it completely falls apart. It's like two different people wrote the first and second half of this film. It starts off as really great straight science fiction movie with a real, consistent plot and characters. Then halfway through, it turns into a snuff film. And the plot scenarios just kept getting more and more ridiculous -- one improbably situation after another. And in the second half of the film, none of the behaviours of the characters had any motivation or grounding in reality, whereas in the beginning, their actions were consistent with their characters and the situations they faced.
Another great thing about this film was that it was very progressive on race. This very small set of characters included a black man, and he had a romantic relationship with one of the (white) female astronauts. There wasn't any hint of derision or bias that I could detect. I'm adding a couple of points to my rating for this fair treatment of race.
My recommendation is to watch the first half of this film until they have the code orange. (It's explained in film -- it happens about half way through.) After that, just turn it off, and write your own ending. It has to be better than what they did to the second half of this film.
triggers: gory depictions of corpses; gory violence; gun (laser) violence
rating 7/10 (for the first half); (submitted July 5, 2020, 1:55 a.m. EDT)
A movie to be studied at all film schools.
ropipgi-581-48716619 June 2021
This movie seems to at some points actually have some good parts, but did the script writer halfway, just give up and they just shot the movie anyway.
In the same way, The actors seem to deliver dialogue, wait two seconds for counter dialogue , wait another two seconds and then deliver end line.
Is this supposed, without movement of camera or tense music somehow by magic be tenseful or dramatic.
Most of any scene in this movie lacked purpose or moved the plot, neither did it develop characters, and most of the characters actually had less background than the first five victims in a slasher movie, despite all that talking.
This was supposed to be people that worked together for a long time, something the script had no inclination of sticking to.
Perhaps it was beginning as two unfinished scripts, hastily written to pass as one story, as the start of the movie as space drama in search of livable planets, had very little to do with the last 30 minutes of the movie.
In fact the text " Space ships leave to go to possible inhabitable planets. Focus on spaceship Pegasus and crew. Survival of remaining earth inhabitants depend on them being successful. " Is not from this movie, but from a tv show from the same writer 2 years later - but i have been unable to see any channel that picked it up, despite it having a full set of actors.
Was this movie just made to make a pitch for a tv show or like the Corman Fantastic Four movie, something made just to keep the rights and hastily put together for the lowest budget ?
Anyway, the faults with it are so easy to spot, so filmstudents should watch it, dissect it and learn from it. Story, lights, sound, music, acting, dialogue, sets, camera - there is something here for everyone to spot on how to not make a movie. Best acting in the movie ? The woman who made the voice for the computer.
In the same way, The actors seem to deliver dialogue, wait two seconds for counter dialogue , wait another two seconds and then deliver end line.
Is this supposed, without movement of camera or tense music somehow by magic be tenseful or dramatic.
Most of any scene in this movie lacked purpose or moved the plot, neither did it develop characters, and most of the characters actually had less background than the first five victims in a slasher movie, despite all that talking.
This was supposed to be people that worked together for a long time, something the script had no inclination of sticking to.
Perhaps it was beginning as two unfinished scripts, hastily written to pass as one story, as the start of the movie as space drama in search of livable planets, had very little to do with the last 30 minutes of the movie.
In fact the text " Space ships leave to go to possible inhabitable planets. Focus on spaceship Pegasus and crew. Survival of remaining earth inhabitants depend on them being successful. " Is not from this movie, but from a tv show from the same writer 2 years later - but i have been unable to see any channel that picked it up, despite it having a full set of actors.
Was this movie just made to make a pitch for a tv show or like the Corman Fantastic Four movie, something made just to keep the rights and hastily put together for the lowest budget ?
Anyway, the faults with it are so easy to spot, so filmstudents should watch it, dissect it and learn from it. Story, lights, sound, music, acting, dialogue, sets, camera - there is something here for everyone to spot on how to not make a movie. Best acting in the movie ? The woman who made the voice for the computer.
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