“We got to see a corporation built up in our lifetime. We also got to see a corporation die.” – Kevin Smith.
Who would’ve believed only a few years ago that the iconic blue carpet and yellow walls of the familiar Blockbuster rental stores would be a fondly-remembered relic of a bygone era, along with the nearly extinct notion of a video rental industry? Yet, here we are. The Last Blockbuster is a documentary about the rise and fall of the company that one boasted 9000 U.S. outlets in 2004, and dwindled to only one in the present day. At its height, there was a new Blockbuster store opening somewhere in the world every seventeen hours. Yet, it all came crumbling down.
The last bastion of this once mighty juggernaut of corporate muscle is in the town of Bend, Oregon and is run by Sandi Harding. And this fascinating and engaging documentary both charts the rise and fall of the company with a kind of reality TV episode about the day to day running of this remaining branch. It tells a story that is at once a warm look back at a time when renting a video for the weekend was practically a rite of passage for a generation, and on the other hand a depressing account of sheer corporate greed and lousy decision making. All punctuated with comments from celebrities including Kevin Smith, Adam Brody, Jamie Kennedy, and Lloyd Kaufman.
We are gently reminded of fading fond memories, including the “staff picks” shelves, the “be kind, rewind” stickers on the tape cases and of course the ever-present threat of the dreaded late fees. A time long gone unless you live in Bend, Orgon where Friday and Saturday nights are still busy, and Monday morning sees the “returns” bin overflowing. As the film reveals, Blockbuster had an opportunity to buy Netflix at one point but declined, the irony of this film only being available on streaming services becomes even more crushingly apparent.
