Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Thirty years after serving together in the Vietnam War, Larry, Sal and Richard reunite for a different type of mission: to bury Doc's son, a young Marine killed in Iraq. Forgoing the burial, the trio take the casket on a bittersweet trip up the coast to New Hampshire – along the way reminiscing and coming to terms with the shared memories of a war that continues to shape their lives.
Last Flag Flying is a quiet, character-driven road film that leans heavily on its performances — Cranston, Carell, and Fishburne bring genuine texture and chemistry to their roles, elevating Richard Linklater's talky, digressive script. The plot is deliberately unhurried and thematically rich, exploring grief, disillusionment, and male friendship across generations of American warfare, though it lacks dramatic propulsion. Cinematography is competent but unshowy, fitting the muted register. Novelty is moderate — it echoes Hal Ashby's 'The Last Detail' in spirit and has Linklater's unmistakable conversational DNA, but isn't radically distinctive. The ending is appropriately muted and earned, if not particularly memorable.