I'll Be Back! one of the most famous lines in cinema history, and they we'rent lying, Arnold Schwarzenegger finally returns to our screen in a lead role, his first since 2003 where he reprized his role of the Terminator in T3: Rise Of The Machines, but he's back and he's badass....Check out my review for his new film, THE LAST STAND, after the jump....
It's
been 10 years since we last saw Arnold Schwarzenegger in a full on
leading role. His last film was the rather disappointing but still
entertaining TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES, then he entered into
politics and his maid, but while he didn't have a leading role in any
films he still cropped up in a few, he made a cameo in THE RUNDOWN,
the action packed film that made Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson a star,
appeared as Prince Hapi in 80 Days Around The World and showed up as
Trench in the first Expendables film. He did have a much larger role
in E2 but that was post Governor of California so that doesn't count.
This year sees the return of Arnold to the realm of the first billed,
with his modern western, THE LAST STAND. But the question that we
should be asking is, is it any good?
The
answer is yes and no, yes because it's action packed, fast paced and
thoroughly entertaining and no because it's just a minor blip on
Arnie's movie resume. On the Arnie movie scale, I would put it above
Collateral Damage and Jingle All The Way but below End Of Days and
Eraser. The film has a typical western movie plot...Escaped convict
heads towards the mexican border while being pursued by government
agents, and it's up to the sheriff of a small Mexican border town to
stop him getting to his destination. It's a simple plot that does
work well within the confines of this script, it's an easy pay check
for Arnie, sure the role is physical but the man looks to have gotten
into some sort of shape compared to how he was before, and if all
goes to plan and we do see him in a fifth Terminator film, will he be
in even better shape because the man is in his mid 60s and can't look like he did in Conan, but we all wish our heroes were still the same as
when we were younger. But despite the fact that he is older, a fact
that is played upon in the film it's self, he still commands the
screen with a gun which is evident in the finale of the film. So
Arnie plays Sheriff Ray Owens, a former Narc officer from L.A who
decided he'd had enough of the bloodshed and wanted to retire to the
quieter side of the Law by becoming the town sheriff of a small
border town, he plays on his age and also on his iconic image which
is an exciting thing to see after 10 years of nothing. I do however
think he should take a few acting lessons just to brush up and get
back to where he was before, we all know he's not the best actor, but
some of his line delivery is a bit poor, but this can easily be
forgiven when he starts kicking ass.
He
has a great supporting cast behind him including the ever reliable
Peter Stormare, who should be in everything, the greatness that is
Luis Guzman, Xerses (Rodrigo Santoro) and Forrest Whitaker as the FBI
agent tracking the escaped convict, played by Eduardo Noriega and we
have the comic relief courtesy of Johnny Knoxville, who even though
he can at times be very annoying, is actually quite fun to watch.
Also, according to IMDB, Sonny Landham is in this as a character
called Henry but I can't recall seeing him in the film. Sonny Landham
played Billy, the guy who sacrificed himself to the predator
in...um...Predator.
For
his English language debut, masterful Korean director Kim Jee-Woon,
chose an easy film to start with, which is fair enough, John Woo did
the same with Hard Target, but where as Woo brought his own style to
HT, Kim Jee-Woon, seems to have left his style back home in Korea,
when you look at the films he's made in his home country, Tale Of Two
Sisters, A Bitter Sweet Life, The Good The Bad and The Weird and I
Saw The Devil, you'd think he'd take on a more demanding film,
something he could get his teeth into, but what we get is just an eye
for hire, there is nothing of Kim Jee-Woon in this film, not a single
ounce of his style, this could be his downfall or it could make him
in Hollywood. As I am fully aware of his work as a director, I just
expected more style from him as the director, but what we get, and
I'm not saying it's badly shot, quite the opposite, what we get is a
film that could have been directed by anyone. Essentially The Last
Stand is a basic DTV film with a bit of extra cash and Arnold in the
leading role, this could have easily been directed by someone like
Isaac Florentine, Sheldon Lettich or any other DTV director. Like I
said there's nothing wrong with how the film is directed, but it's
not what you'd expect from someone with such an incredibly stylized
eye.
I do
have to say though, the action is expertly handled, there's a
shootout almost every 20 minutes or so and the finale is fantastic,
like an old school western, guns blazing and a chase towards the
border.
I
really enjoyed The Last Stand for what it was, an old school, A-B,
fast paced action film of the switch the brain off variety and proves
that Arnie is back but not at his best yet, like a boxer who's been
out of the game for a few years and has lost his touch, so the
training begins and I think by the time David Ayer's TEN is released,
Schwarzenegger will be back on form, but for now, this is pure
escapist cinema. I just wish the film didn't look like every other
action film we see these days. Kim Jee-Woon you disappoint me...for
now...
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