Jean-Claude Van Damme's The Last Mercenary wraps up its story with "The Mist" saving the day, but here's what happened in the ending and how it sets up a sequel. The latest action-comedy from Van Damme puts him in familiar territory. He stars as Richard Brumère, a top-secret former special agent who is often referred to as "The Mist," and is tasked with stopping a villain with plans of acquiring and utilizing an incredibly dangerous weapon, humorously known as the Big Mac.
Directed by David Charhon, The Last Mercenary is a Netflix original French-language action-comedy. The story follows Brumère as he returns to to protect his son, Archibald Al Mahmoud (Samir Decazza), when he is wrongly hunted by the government for being an arms dealer. Brumère has been almost completely absent from Archie's life, as Archie's mom arranged a safe life for her child before she died where he received payments from the government and, unknown to him, had complete immunity. This life comes crashing down when Alexandre (Alban Ivanov), a diligent employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ends Archie's payments and immunity out of fear that it is a scam.
The Last Mercenary sees Brumère and Archie fix their broken relationship and attempt to clear his name, with the help of Alexandre and Archie's friends, Dalila (Assa Sylla) and Momo (Djimo). This brings them to confront the criminal who was using Archibald's name to maintain immunity and attempt to buy the Big Mac to keep it out of the wrong hands. It wraps up its story quite nicely, and despite earning mixed reviews overall, The Last Mercenary's ending leaves the door open for a new Jean-Claude Van Damme franchise.
Marguerite's Villain Twist Explained
The big twist of The Last Mercenary's ending comes in the form of where Marguerite's true allegiance lies. Acclaimed actress Miou-Miou is introduced in the movie as an old friend of Brumère who used to work with him as part of a top-secret team. He asks for help on a few different occasions during the film, but The Last Mercenary's ending reveals that she was working to sabotage Brumère and his team the whole time. It is unveiled in the finale that she is secretly the mother of Paul Lesueur (Eric Judor), the unofficial man in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is initially revealed when Paul accidentally calls her mom in front of Archie and the team, while Alexandre made the secret known to Brumère, who was in the other room.
Marguerite's villain twist is quite the surprise for Van Damme's Brumère and surely for most of The Last Mercenary's audience. She explains that she had Paul in secret so she could still the department, but she became jealous over the special treatment Brumère's kid received. This led Marguerite to pursue the Big Mac so she and Paul could sell it and obtain millions of dollars to start a new life. There isn't much of a setup for Marguerite's villain twist, but it does recontextualize some previous events. The best example is when Marguerite was supposed to pose as someone in a swimming class so Brumère could record the Archibald imposter's conversation about where the Big Mac sale was going to happen. Marguerite begins to drown and holds the microphone underwater, but she tells Brumère after her allegiance is known that he would have known she was an expert swimmer if he had done his research. Unfortunately for Marguerite and Paul, they are defeated by Brumère and his team, with some help by local law enforcement.
How Brumère & His Team Escape Captivity
Once Marguerite and Paul are captured, that leaves Brumère, Archie, Alexandre, Dalila, and Momo surrounded by Commandant Jouard (Patrick Timsit) and his men. Jouard emerges in the ballroom of the meeting location after presumably dying after being shot by Marguerite minutes earlier. However, he comes to the rescue after revealing that his tuxedo was bulletproof. Jouard and Brumère have a complicated past, so even though Brumère helped keep the Big Mac safe, Jouard wants nothing more than to arrest his presumed rival. With an army of armed soldiers around him, it would seem that Jouard is about to get his wish. Unfortunately for him, The Last Mercenary ends with Brumère and his team escaping captivity.
The newest Jean-Claude Van Damme movie doesn't explicitly show how Brumère and company got away from Jouard's team. The room turns black as all power is lost, indicating that Brumère turned on the Big Mac to aid his escape. Jouard is then heard shouting his name to show that he made it out, with The Last Mercenary then showing Brumère walking through the streets of as a free man. The fates of Alexandre, Archie, Dalila, and Momo aren't shown, but it would be a real change of character for Brumère to only save himself and leave them to fall on his sword. All of them are presumed to have escaped with him, with The Last Mercenary eventually providing a tease of what might happen next for Archie and Dalila (but more on that later).
Who Archibald's Imposter Was
One of the lingering questions The Last Mercenary leaves audiences with is who Archibald's imposter really was. The movie repeatedly shows the Scarface-obsessed arms dealer and drug trafficker. He uses Archibald's name as cover to stay protected during his time in , where he is not supposed to be. When Brumère and his team eventually confront the imposter, it is Archie who knocks him unconscious. However, the Archibald imposter manages to escape and returns to his home country once the fake identity is useless. After missing out on the big score, the Archibald imposter is likely not too happy with Brumère, Archie, and the team. Perhaps The Last Mercenary purposefully left details on his past and whereabouts vague because that will factor into a potential sequel.
Was Brumère Around For Other Parts of Archie's Life?
The Last Mercenary's ending also raises a question about how absent from Archie's life Brumère really was. The former secret agent reveals in the third act that he lied to Archie earlier when he asked where Brumère was when Archie's mom died. Instead of being on a mission as he said, The Last Mercenary uses a flashback to show that Brumère was at the funeral and even interacted with Archie, giving him a chain. This is a sweet moment between the estranged father and son, but it also might mean that Brumère wasn't as disconnected from Archie's life as believed.
How Last Mercenary's Ending & Post-Credits Scenes Setup A Sequel
The actual end of The Last Mercenary does a good job of wrapping up Brumère's current mission, but the movie teases that more could be on the way before the credits finish rolling. The very beginning of the credits features two scenes of men receiving messages that say "The goose is out of the freezer." This is the same phrase that Archie's guardian Fernand uses when he learns that Archie's cover is blown. Both of the men who receive this message appear to be undercover, with one posing as a priest and the other as a homeless man. It's potentially a tease not too unlike John Wick: Chapter Two's ending when everyone associated with the assassin underworld is alerted to the hit placed on John Wick's head. This could mean that The Last Mercenary 2 will see other parties continue to pursue Archie, either to get revenge on what Brumère has done in the past or for thinking that he is tied to the imposter.
The Last Mercenary also features a post-credits scene that makes some surprising developments for a potential sequel, if it is considered canon. The tag shows Dalila giving birth to a baby and that Archie is the father. To make the scene even more surprising, Brumère's latest disguise is as a doctor and it is revealed that he helped deliver the baby to keep his promise that he'll be there for the biggest moments in Archie's life. This scene could just be a fun tag that is used as a tribute to a real-life birth. But if The Last Mercenary 2 does count this as canon, then adding a baby to the mix and the development of Dalila and Archie as romantic partners will dramatically change where the story goes from here.
