Last Seen Alive Plot Synopsis
In Last Seen Alive, Gerard Butler stars as Will, a man whose wife disappears at a gas station after he pulls in to fuel up his car. After frantically searching for her, he eventually decides to take the law into his own hands when the police prove to be ineffective.
But where did his wife go? And why was she taken? The answer to this one is fairly straightforward but let’s take a closer look at the movie and its ending.
When does Lisa go missing?
The marriage of Will and Lisa isn’t a happy one. He has been emotionally absent from the relationship for quite a while, partly as a consequence of the affair Lisa had several months previously.
Their relationship isn’t over yet, however, although Lisa wants to stay at her parent’s house to get some perspective on their marriage.
On their way to her parent’s home, they pull over at a gas station. After popping into a shop to buy a bottle of water, Lisa is then seen talking to somebody outside. Unfortunately, a truck pulls up and obscures Lisa and this other person. When the truck drives away, Lisa has gone.
After realising his wife has vanished, Will frantically starts to look for her. He speaks to Oscar the shopkeeper and asks if he has seen his wife after passing over her description. Oscar claims he hasn’t seen her, which is slightly odd, as he had previously served Lisa in the shop.
What does Will do next?
As his wife has mysteriously disappeared, Will decides to call the police. Detective Paterson arrives on the scene, takes a few details from Will and asks him to remain where he is while he begins the investigation.
As Lisa is nowhere to be seen at the gas station, Will decides to go against the detective’s orders. Instead of staying put, he visits Lisa’s parents instead. They aren’t pleased to see him turn up without their daughter in tow and are understandably alarmed. They are mistrusting of him too, as are the police, who suspect Will may have something to do with Lisa’s disappearance.
When Will realises his wife isn’t at her parents, he returns to the gas station and meets up with Detective Paterson.
The detective asks Oscar for the security camera footage but the man tells him the cameras aren’t working.
After the detective leaves, Will realises Oscar is lying. There is a light flashing below one of the cameras outside and this indicates that it is working. Why the detective didn’t pick up on this we don’t know but when Will finds out, he threatens Oscar, assaults him, and takes the hard drive that contains the camera footage.
What is on the footage?
Will takes the hard drive to the police station and they take a look at the footage. It shows a man talking to Lisa but when the truck pulls into view, the police aren’t able to see what happened next.
Will later shows the footage to Lisa’s parents and they recognise the man who is talking to their daughter. It’s Knuckles, their handyman, and they reveal that he used to be a classmate of Lisa’s at school. Her parents also recognise the car Knuckles is driving and they tell Will that it is in a garage nearby.
Does Will find Knuckles?
Will heads to the garage’s location and catches up with Knuckles. A fight ensues but Will is able to get the better of him.
Knuckles reveals that he is the person behind Lisa’s disappearance and that he has taken her to a man called Frank. Will ties Knuckles up, puts him in the back of his car and sets off to look for the person who apparently has his wife.
Does Will find Frank?
Yes but not before he has a run-in with the police when they catch him speeding. After pulling over, Will realises the policeman is about to find Knuckles in the boot of his car so decides to make a run for it.
He eventually reaches Frank’s location; a barn which has been converted into a meth lab. He spots Oscar, the shopkeeper from the gas station, and realises that he has something to do with his wife’s disappearance. He also catches sight of Frank and his men.
After taking out Frank’s goons in a gunfight and inadvertently causing a fire in the barn, he corners Frank and tries to make him talk. Unfortunately, Frank is killed in their scuffle so Will has no way of finding out what happened to Lisa.
Luckily, Oscar appears from the now burning barn and demands money from Will in exchange for knowledge about his wife. Before Will can find out the answer, the barn explodes and kills Oscar. At this point, it would appear that Will has no way of knowing where Lisa might be. But when wandering around the property, he hears a noise from a nearby outhouse. When he manages to get the door open, he finds Lisa inside.
Why did Lisa get taken?
Knuckles orchestrated the plan to take Lisa. After hearing of her imminent arrival after carrying out work at her parent’s house, he decided to kidnap her.
He did this because he needed money to fuel his drug addiction. As Knuckles knew Will was wealthy, he thought he could abduct Lisa, take her to Frank, and then hold her for ransom.
Frank didn’t approve of this plan, however, and instead ordered Knuckles to dig a pit for Lisa’s soon-to-be murdered body. Knuckles didn’t hang around after digging the pit, possibly because he realised he was going to get into deeper trouble if he was incriminated in Lisa’s death.
But before Frank could dispose of Lisa, Will arrived on the scene to save his wife.
After the couple are united, Paterson lets Will know that Knuckles has signed a confession and admitted to the kidnapping.
We can’t be certain of what happened to Knuckles after the events of the film, but we can assume that Will, after saving his wife from being murdered, also saved his marriage.
Read More: Last Seen Alive Movie Review
I’ve been watching Gerard Butler’s movie since 300s. That is why I was looking for the peak of the action in the movie that somewhat action packed movie of Mike Banning. Yeah I agree with some of your comments, this movie gets 6 out of 10 for me.
I really thought that Will orchestrated the kidnapping, to save his marriage with Lisa. I think it would be a better plot. Lowest point of the movie was the explosion. LOL
Don’t believe Lisa was having an affair with Frank. Doesn’t make sense why he would continuously text her like he wanted her back and then be willing to kill her.
Is detective Peterson’s first name also Frank?
He sure seemed emotionally concerned while interrogating Knuckles.
Honestly, one of my most disliked parts of the film is how much they used the f word. Like I get it, I use it, but it’s almost every sentence. There’s a specific scene and it’s said every 7-8 words for 4-5, you can’t even hear past it. It doesn’t make up for a slightly subpar screenplay.
A lot of pot holes in this thinly scripted film. Sure you could say Knuckles running into Lisa at the gas station was a coincidence. Or that Will just happened to luck up on Frank’s meth operation while running through the woods where he was pulled over. But please explain to me how Will was able to call Detective Patterson on his personal cell phone when not having been given that pertinent information. I believe the reach of the screenwriter was way shorter than the imagination of the audience.
Movie jumped around . I give it 6 out if 10!
Based on the fact that knuckles just knew where they would be, the suspicious call frank got when Lisa went into the gas station, the almost “one more chance” question he asked before she got out the car and went in, the parents not trusting him, knuckles knowing DETAILS about the marriage, yea will was in on it. It was his attempt at scaring her back into the marriage.
I watched it and actually thought it was a very good movie. Sure it had it’s bad points but what movie doesn’t. Well worth the watch. It is a good movie. 8 out of 10
I agree with you. It’s far from Butler’s best – in fact, this might be his worst film. Here’s hoping his next movie is better!
This movie is a cross between a Dutch film The Vanishing which has been remade a couple of times. I’ve now seen a Dutch, Chinese and American version of the same film with different endings.
While I love Gerard Butler this was not his best movie. It’s 2 movies in 1 – The Vanishing and Breakdown. I enjoyed Breakdown.
The reasoning behind her disappearance is laughable, no repercussions for the main actor for his many illegal acts.
It felt like they ran out of money 1/2 way through and changed the ending to suit.
I only watched it all to find out the ending not because it was enjoyable.
Maybe the Razzies…
Quote Mogul – “Oscar’s Involvement?”
No, I don’t think that the Oscars will get involved in this at all
Why wouldn’t Will call the police to go to Frank’s. Knuckles happens to see Lisa at the gas station and at the right time the truck stops to block the camera? The ending is the worse. Your husband saves your life and you leave him outside waiting for you. Movie could have been so much better.
I think it’s another plot hole. Logic wasn’t the movie’s strongest point.
How did Knuckles know that Lisa and Will would be stopping at that particular gas station…not to mention when???
I’m not sure this is fleshed out in the film. He was obviously in on the kidnapping but his plot thread isn’t explored well.
Oscars involvement?
I think the movie is a bit of a jumble and it doesn’t do much to tie the various threads of the plot together, such as Knuckle’s involvement. With a tighter script, the movie would have made a lot more sense.
Thanks. I came here after watching the move because I didn’t catch how Knuckles knew the details about their marriage
problems only because he worked at the family!! still not convinced :) plus really how Knuckles knew they will stop in that gas station !! and if they are facing problems in their marriage is it the time to take the wife and ask for money :-)
you’re welcome :)
Thanks for writing this up.
Thank you very much. I was looking for a synopsis of the movie and I’m glad I found your article.