The Last Stand

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Forest Whitaker, Johnny Knoxville, Peter Stormare, Eduardo Noriega, Luis Guzman, Sonny Landham, Jaimie Alexander, Harry Dean Stanton
Directed by: Kim Jee-Woon
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Thriller
2013

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A small town sheriff (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is all that stands in the way of a dangerous fugitive (Eduardo Noriega) and his path to freedom in Mexico.

Review:

Tim: After a long, long absence from starring roles, Arnold Schwarzenegger makes his return with The Last Stand. While this film is a throwback to many of his previous action movies, I desperately wish he picked a better vehicle to return with. While this movie showed some promise, it is deeply flawed. As a result, it's not surprising that this film bombed at the box office- it's simply not very good.

The biggest problem I had with the film was the characters. With a movie like this, the characters are incredibly important- if we can identify with them, then the stakes will be raised, and we'll actually care what happens. Unfortunately, this is also one of the film's major weak points. I actually blame director Kim Jee-Woon quite a bit for this (the script is also to blame). They assembled a good cast, but none of them work very effectively. Part of the problem is the ridiculous, weak dialogue they are forced to utter. This is the first movie writer Andrew Knauer scripted, and it shows. The film is ridiculous and the dialogue is moronic. I sincerely hope his career in Hollywood is short. Based on this sample size of one, the guy is a hack. With the terrible dialogue, the actors have huge challenges to make their characters believable and fun. Even worse than the dialogue was the direction by Woon. I don't know what he was doing here. The actors never felt comfortable to me, and not one of their performances worked. They were uncomfortable, forced, and came across looking very silly. While some of that rests on the actors, Woon should have reshot almost every scene in the film until he captured believable performances.

I've always really liked Schwarzenegger, even when I probably shouldn't have. His movies are just fun for me. I am not sure how much Woon and the lackluster script contributed to this, but I never bought Schwarzenegger's performance. It seemed forced and unrealistic. He looked uncomfortable throughout the film. I wonder if part of this is just rust from the long delay since his last starring role. I sincerely hope he captures the magic that made him such a big star. This film didn't flatter him at all.

Forest Whitaker is a good actor, but his performance just didn't work here. He seemed off balance and uncomfortable throughout the film. I felt like I was watching an actor act, not like I was watching a real person on screen. That speaks volumes about his performance. Great actors make us forget they are acting. Whitaker has talent, but didn't work here. Johnny Knoxville was poorly cast, and added nothing to the film. He was supposed to bring comedic relief, but I never laughed once at him. He was so stupid and the "humor" so corny and unoriginal that it really hurt the film. His role was close to worthless. Eduardo Noriega gave one of the better performances of the film, but even he would probably like to forget this film. Jaimie Alexander seemed weak, and Luis Guzman was trying way, way too hard. A good cast was assembled here, but not a single one gives a worthy performance. This alone would sink the film.

I was fairly disappointed in a major plot point here. I enjoyed that a fugitive was making a run for the border, and only Schwarzenegger's sheriff stood in the way. I did not like the whole piece where the fugitive was able to run from the police so successfully because he was in a really fast race car. Are you kidding me? That seemed so farfetched and outlandish to me. The police have no heat sensing devices? They threw up the weakest roadblocks, and the fugitive's men miraculously happened to be there at the right moment to break in. The whole thing reeked of illogical writing. It was just so absurd, and I had a really hard time believing any of it.

The final battle between the fugitive and sheriff was fine, but not exactly great. It's always fun to see Schwarzenegger in action mode, and he delivers quite a few trademark one-liners in the movie. My favorite was the one about his day off. The rest were lackluster. The climax still had a few moments that seemed to defy logic, but it was fun to watch.

I'm so glad Schwarzenegger is finished with his political career. He belongs in front of the camera. Unfortunately, The Last Stand was not a very strong film to make his return in. I really wanted to like this movie- I missed Arnie, and I was so glad to see him back. Unfortunately, this mediocre movie was far underneath him. I sincerely hope he makes better choices in the future.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Collateral Damage, End of Days