Filmmakers Damien Lee and David Micthell have been in the b-movie business for over forty years each. Their work graced the trashier shelves of video stores from Vancouver to Hamburg, and now reach wide through the tubes. To Shitty Movie Sundays, their contributions compare favorably to contemporaries such as David Winters, Mark A. Prior, or Cirio H. Santiago. None household names, but for the mutants, solid bona fides.
Last Man Standing is an early effort from both, with Lee and Mitchell sharing screenwriting and producing credit, while Lee directed. The film is a heavy-handed depiction of underground bare-knuckle cage fights. It was a surprise to see how earnest Lee and company were at times. This flick can be dreary here and there, and has the feeling of a shitty version of On the Waterfront.
Vernon Wells stars as ‘Roo’ Marcus, a dim-witted emigrant from Australia to Canada, who wound up in the underground fight scene, managed by gym owner Casper (William Sanderson). When viewers join, it’s late in Roo’s career, and he decides to hang ‘em up after a brutal fight in a joint owned by corrupt boxing manager Napoleon (Michael Copeman). Events transpire, as they always do in movies, to keep Roo in the fight game 
against his will. His love interest, Charlie (Sonja Belliveau), has a father deep in debt to Napoleon, and that is used to get Roo back in the cage.
This is a pretty gritty film compared to its own style. It has the look of nothing so weighty. It’s a film where one would expect something spectacular, like waves of bad guys to beat up, cringey quips, and a gun-toting finale where one man goes against an army. There is none of that. It may look like a late night ’80s action flick, and it talks like one, too. But it is deadly serious.
That seriousness was bad news for the cast, as they struggled to cast aside some well-honed b-movie skills for the proper attitude the script called for. That begins with Wells. His most familiar roles are as bad guys, where he showed true eccentricity, as in Mad Max 2 or Commando. He got in good shape for this movie, but the raving lunatic he usually played was, for the most part, absent. He went for subtlety and soft delivery, and showed that drama is not his strong suit. Nor could he be a convincing lunkhead, as the script called for.
Every hero needs a nemesis. Napoleon is this flick’s evil mastermind, but he’s no fighter, so denouement/redemption is a fight against Cannon (Pete Dempster). He’s a fine foil. Napoleon handles all the antagonism outside the cage, while Cannon puts Roo through all the physical punishment. The cage fights are where the film works best, since Lee couldn’t quite capture the drama outside of it.
If one is looking for a throwaway, clichéd ’80s action flick for some light entertainment, this ain’t it. Roo’s predicament is just too tough, and the mood is too oppressive. Who wants this much drama with their cheese? Last Man Standing avoids the nether reaches of the Watchability Index because, despite its mood, the pace was okay. It lands at #398, displacing Trip with the Teacher.