Last Seen in Idaho

Last Seen in Idaho is a fun thriller chock full of twists and turns. Just when you think you have it all figured out, another surprise is thrown into the mix. The premise of the story is that a woman named Summer witnesses a murder and while she's trying to escape the scene, she's pursued by the killers and wrecks her car. Later at the hospital, she can't recall the murder she saw, but now she's having premonitions about her own future murder. So there's a bit of fantastical element to it. Meanwhile, the killers decide that if Summer's memory shows any signs of returning, they will eliminate her.

An indie production, this film seems to have the ambition of larger films. There are some action and suspense scenes throughout the first two acts of the film, but mostly, it relies on tension and mystery that builds through those acts, leading to a massive final act with bigger action and spectacle.

Hallie Shepherd is a believable and relatable as Summer, a heroine who is continually facing down the worst possible news - You're going to be kidnapped... wait no, you're going to die.... Wait no.... She's brave and tough and resourceful. Casper Van Dien is creepy as all get out, as a killer who has no emotions about his murders, just bland curiosity. Wes Ramsey is complex character who uses his charm and good looks to get close to Summer. He shows range in this film, needing to have both likeability and a rough and dark criminal side. Shawn Christian is colorful and eccentric as a cocky bad guy. Alexis Monnie plays Summer's younger sister, a naïve young woman who doesn't seem to have the same street smarts her older sister does. This solid cast also has a variety of supporting characters that add to the overall mystery of "Who is the Big Bad Crime Lord?"

All in all, a really fun thriller! It kept me engaged the entire time, and I didn't see the end coming.

The movie has an intriguing set up: Woman witnesses crime and in a near death escape ends up in coma only to awaken with special powers. Now this movie mainly stays in the realm of realism. The "special powers" are limited to premonitions that pop up unexpectedly and all relate in some form or other to her upcoming murder. How can she stop it?

I feel like this movie wanted to go deeper with some of the themes that it presented: Can we change our destiny? Are the mistakes of our past destined to haunt us? It dances around those topics, but with so many characters and plotlines in need of development in order to serve the mystery and the suspense, it never fully explores those themes. I wish it would have. That would have elevated the movie to a solid '8' for me.

Good directing. Good writing. Good acting. It's good across the board with suspense, moments that make you jump, tension, and some good action, but it's missing that something that would turn it into a break-out hit. Middle was a touch slow, maybe? Still, I recommend it. It was entertaining.

Ugh. Excessive violence (needlessly), thankfully "Last Seen in Idaho" had a happy ending. The lead actress won the Best Lead Actress Award at Gig Harbor Movie Festival and she certainly deserved it. Two most prominent male criminal characters were very convincing as evil dudes. However, I had to mute the audio several times on intense violent scenes and rely on close captions just to be able to continue watch the movie. I only continued watching because I'm very curious and the actors where so good, thus I still had hope there would be a good-decent ending. Directors can learn a lot from watching classic Alfred Hitchcock movies. All this excessive violence is a huge turnoff (it was doubled due to lead actress's gift of foresight), if there was a better script with more subtle violence vs. Overt violence this movie could have been an 8-9 out of ten. Instead it's a barely watchable 5 of ten. This is one of those cases where the book would be ten x better than the movie even for the genre. What on Earth is Hollywood thinking with this much overt violence? We the people want good quality entertainment. ***This movie is NOT suitable for kids in any way, shape or form.****

I was genuinely surprised at how awesome this movie was. I originally only gave this a chance because of Shaun and Wes were in it. But it it was a very good movie.

Showtime has a pretty wide selection of films and genres these days from independent films and Sundance movies to big budget blockbusters. That's one of the things I like about the channel. I was just perusing the guide and Last Seen in Idaho was about to start. The title and the description sounded cool so I went for it even though I didn't know any of the actors in it except I recognized one of them. It turned about to be a decent thriller. Maybe I'd classify it more as a mystery because there's a fair amount of sleuthing by the main character in between the occasional chase or fight scene. I liked the lead actress. She was relatable and natural. I really liked the lead male. He was simmering and likeable. All in all it's decent if you like these kinds of mystery-thriller movies.