The Last Frontier: a fun mix between The Fugitive and Wings of Hell (review)
Jason Clarke tracks down inmates who have escaped from a plane in the bitter cold of Alaska. An Apple thriller that summons the spirit of action films from the 1990s. Effective.
Giving the leading role to Jason Clarke is the good idea for The Last Frontier, a new action series which has just been launched on Apple TV+ (and also Canal + in France).
We really like this Australian actor with a gloomy face, too rare in the lead, despite his impressive pedigree, from Zero Dark Thirty to Oppenheimer via Planet of the Apes: The Showdown, Everest or more recently in the NBA series Winning Time (he played the legend Jerry West). At 56, he makes a perfect Tommy Lee Jones of today, playing a Marshal looking for fugitives. Except this time, the hunt takes place in the hostile regions of Alaska.
Frank is the head of the local authority on the small town side of Fairbanks. So when a plane carrying dangerous prisoners, destined to be transferred to a federal prison, crashes in his mountains, Frank leads the investigation. Because dozens of violent criminals find themselves free. A CIA agent arrives: one of the condemned is a former spy arrested for treason… What if this crash was not an accident?
Jon Bokenkamp, the creator of The Blacklist, goes there with his big clogs, summoning as much as possible the spirit of the action films of the 1990s. We think of course of The Fugitive, but also of the blockbuster The Wings of Hell, carried by a Nicolas Cage who survived a crash with a bunch of scum doomed to spend their lives in jail.
So we go on the hunt for prisoners on the run, with the icy landscapes of the far north to spice up the action. In the thick white scenery of Alaska, the cold, snow and night play a crucial role and nourish this thriller with very cool images. Especially since the manhunt is quite captivating and unfolds over the course of a fun and complicated plot, which we quickly understand will include its share of twists and shocking revelations.
No, it’s not very innovative. The Last Frontier would rather tend to scrupulously respect the codes and tick the boxes of the genre (to the point of putting Viola Davis for the umpteenth time in the shoes of the boss of a secret section of the CIA). But the game of cat and mouse remains no less exciting to follow, with some very effective action sequences. Too bad it took so long. Jason Clarke will recover the escaped secondary prisoners one by one… until he catches the big prize. All of this would certainly have benefited from being summarized in a good two-hour thriller.
The Last Frontier, season 1 in 10 episodes, to watch on Apple TV+ and also Canal + in France from Friday October 10, 2025 with two episodes posted online from launch, then a new episode each week until December 5.
