The Daily Gamecock

Schwarzenegger reclaims big screen in laughable action flick

Arnold Schwarzenegger is back on top in a stupid, but fun, action film by a talented foreign filmmaker.

 

 

“The Last Stand” is a violent shoot-em-up flick starring Schwarzenegger in his first lead role since “Terminator 3” 10 years ago. 

 

He plays Ray Owens, the past-his-prime sheriff of the small southwestern border town of Sommerton Junction, which seems to be lifted out of an old-fashioned western, right down to the long, dusty main street. 

 

Ray gets unexpectedly drawn into the high-stakes criminal pursuit of Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega), a huge South American drug kingpin, after Cortez escapes the police custody of Agent John Bannister (Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker) and kidnaps Agent Ellen Richards (Génesis Rodríguez). 

 

As Cortez barrels down the highway in a revved-up Corvette with his hostage, Agent Bannister realizes that he is headed straight towards Ray’s turf to cross a bridge connecting the U.S. and Mexico. Cortez has a group of nonspecific European criminals in Sommerton Junction providing Cortez with information and Ray with target practice.

 

The international cast includes cliched stereotypes but perfunctory supporting characters. 

 

Johnny Knoxville plays Lewis (more or less as himself, or at least the version of himself on “Jackass”), a tall, limber buffoon who agrees to lend the weapons from his arsenal if Ray deputizes him. 

 

Luis Guzmán plays Mike Figuerola, a timid police officer who seems like he has never seen heavy action in the line of duty, which suits him just fine. Zach Gilford (Matt on “Friday Night Lights”) plays a bumbling police officer who provides some heart and humor in the midst of the action, but not too much since this is a film aimed at males, who do not cry or feel emotion. 

 

However, men like pretty women, so Jaimie Alexander plays Sarah Torrance, a babe who looks like a supermodel but instead works on the police force in a podunk desert town. It just so happens that her ex-boyfriend, Frank (Rodrigo Santoro), is in the jail when all hell breaks loose. 

 

Will he be given a gun to show that he can fight for justice? Will Sarah fight with him in the beginning but fall back in love with him, possibly after he saves her life? I’ll let you guess.

 

Schwarzenegger was never a fantastic actor, but he has always been an entertaining screen presence. “The Last Stand” is a throwback to ‘80s slambang action movies while also incorporating classic western motifs from movies such as “Rio Bravo.” The movie has its tongue firmly in cheek, and nothing is taken too seriously. It is full of shootings (often done with squibs, a welcome return to practical effects in our digital age), knife fights and car chases. The violence is gleeful but not too sadistic. 

 

The film is very standard and disposable, but it does the job it set out to do. It brings back Schwarzenegger in a starring role to blow away non-American baddies (which has always been ironic considering how thick of an Austrian accent the “Terminator” is famous for). 

 

One of the key elements that distinguishes this film from lesser entries in the genre is the stylish and energetic direction by South Korean filmmaker Jee-woon Kim. This is his first English-language film. His previous efforts include the quietly terrifying horror film, “A Tale of Two Sisters,” the Kimchi western, (Kim’s words) “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” and the seriously sadistic serial killer flick, “I Saw the Devil” (All three of those films are on Netflix Instant Play and I highly recommend them all). 

 

“The Last Stand” is much more suited for a general American audience than his extreme early films, even though arms and other appendages get shot and blown off on screen. Like good junk food, this movie may not be very nourishing, but it is still enjoyable and reasonably well-made.

 


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