The tragic death of John Allen Chau at age 26 has already been the subject of a very good 2023 documentary, “The Mission.” Now, it’s also the subject of a not-so good narrative feature, “Last Days.”
Why Justin Lin, who directed five of the “Fast & Furious” movies, would choose to return to his indie roots to tell this particular story is baffling. Lin made his name with the thrilling 2002 drama “Better Luck Tomorrow,” about a group of overachieving Asian-American teenagers who run a crime ring in wealthy Orange County. We feel no such urgent narrative thrust here. “Last Days” is a scattered, superficial depiction of a sad tale that requires deeper analysis.
Sky Yang stars as Chau, a Christian missionary from Washington state. After years of traveling the world for his faith, he was killed in 2018 when he ventured to the remote North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal to convert the native people. Not only is this illegal–the Indian government has protected this place with a no-contact policy–it’s also immoral. The Sentinelese have chosen to isolate themselves; Chau thinks they need Jesus. Whether he has any kind of misgiving about this difficult and unwise journey, we don’t know. He is single-minded in purpose, totally convinced that what he’s doing is not just right but necessary.
Lin doesn’t judge Chau for his fervor–or his arrogance, depending on how you choose to view his motivation–but he also doesn’t provide much insight into why he’d be willing to die for his beliefs. Yang is up for the physicality the role demands but doesn’t get much to play beyond Chau’s wide-eyed earnestness.
The script from Ben Ripley (“Source Code”), based on the Outside magazine article “The Last Days of John Allen Chau,” further dilutes this story. It jumps back and forth in time between Chau’s evolution as a Christian missionary and the investigation into his whereabouts, until both timelines eventually converge. We see him getting radicalized in training montages that simulate kidnapping and physical combat. He also gets egged on by a couple of zealous, young contemporaries, who seek out the most forbidden places on the planet to spread the word of the Lord. (The small plane they use literally says: “God Is My Co-Pilot” on the side of it. How’s that for spelling things out?) But the film never explores the nagging, underlying question: Are they putting themselves in danger for the thrill of it all, or do they truly believe that what they’re doing is spiritually essential?
At the same time, we follow an ambitious, young police inspector (Radhika Apte), who gets word that this American is missing and is determined to find him. Apte has a compelling, sympathetic presence, but it feels like she’s in a totally separate film. It doesn’t help that she’s usually stuck acting opposite a hammy Naveen Andrews as the condescending, sexist supervisor who’s dismissive of her efforts.
“This is Port Blair. This is the edge of the world,” he tells her in an example of the film’s often clunky dialogue.
Meanwhile, back at home, we see memories of Chau’s fraught relationship with his disapproving father (a solid Ken Leung), who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps as a doctor and doesn’t understand his religious calling. A bit of climactic cross cutting between Chau as a child and his father in 2018 feels protracted and doesn’t achieve the poignancy it seeks. That scene, though, is a good example of how “Last Days” tries to accomplish too much; various plot threads stretch the running time, making it feel too long. Ultimately, it’s hard to tell who this movie is for: It doesn’t emphasize Christianity enough for the faith-based crowd, but the motivation behind Chau’s deadly mission will seem underdeveloped for secular audiences.
Revisiting the documentary about the untimely death of this young man–whose body still has never been recovered–is a better call.
