The Last Lullaby
“The Last Lullaby” is a first for me. It’s the first “screener” request I’ve received with major talent behind it. It stars Tom Sizemore, whose legal troubles of late have overshadowed a career of terrific turns in the likes of “Saving Private Ryan,” “Black Hawk Down,” and “Heat,” and it’s co-written by Max Allan Collins, who wrote the graphic novel “Road to Perdition.”
In his first feature film, director Jeffrey Goodman does right by his collaborator’s track records, and comes up with an intriguing thriller/drama. Sizemore adds another stellar turn to his career of tough guys as Price, who seems to be just another lonely guy until we see him gun down kidnappers of a spoiled rich kid. Turns out he’s a hit man with a sharp eye for fishy business.
Her father (Bill Smitrovich) is even more spoiled by Price’s generosity ($200,000 seems low for such a seemingly coincidental happening). He offers considerably more for another favor- to get himself out of trouble with some seemingly shady people, he hires Price to take out a young woman (Sasha Alexander’s Sarah) who can be very dangerous to him. But as typically happens in these things, the closer Price gets to Sarah, the more conflicted he is about the job, which he’s asked to make look like an accident.
Based solely on Sam Mendes’ 2002 adaptation of the material, there’s a lot of “Perdition” in Collins’ and newcomer Peter Biegen’s screenplay. It’s not hard to see Sizemore’s Price in the same vein of “Perdition’s” Michael Sullivan- an honorable but ruthless killer- and Omid Abtahi’s Van as a parallel to Maguire- the sadistic assassin Jude Law played in the movie. Goodman brings atmosphere and a keen eye for composition and emotion to the film (aided exceptionally by cinematographer Richard Rutkowski and composer Ben Lovett), which reveals pieces of its’ puzzle slowly and surprisingly. Each revelation adds another layer of feeling and complexity to the rich story being told. More thrillers should be like this- unpredictable, imaginative, and uncompromising.
Goodman gets terrific work out of his actors. Alexander shows the fragility of Sarah’s psyche because of past tragedies endured, while- in the end- showing a quiet strength that will help her get through the situation at hand. But Sizemore is the film’s ultimate triumph. His performance is as hard and complex as his character’s handling of the situation- a true star turn that will, hopefully, lead to more prominent roles than he’s had in a good long while. This film showed how much we’ve missed him in mainstream cinema without really realizing it.
