Directed by:
Jee-woon KimCinematography:
Ji-yong KimComposer:
MowgCast:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Forest Whitaker, Rodrigo Santoro, Peter Stormare, Jaimie Alexander, Eduardo Noriega, Zach Gilford, Luis Guzmán, Johnny Knoxville (more)Plots(1)
After leaving his LAPD narcotics post following a bungled operation that left him wracked with remorse and regret, Sheriff Ray Owens (Arnold Schwarzenegger) moved out of Los Angeles and settled into a life fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town Sommerton Junction. But that peaceful existence is shattered when Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega), the most notorious, wanted drug kingpin in the western hemisphere, makes a deadly yet spectacular escape from an FBI prisoner convoy.
With the help of a fierce band of lawless mercenaries led by the icy Burrell (Peter Stormare), Cortez begins racing towards the US-Mexico border at 250 mph in a specially-outfitted Corvette ZR1 with a hostage in tow. Cortez’ path: straight through Summerton Junction, where the whole of the U.S. law enforcement, including Agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker) will have their final opportunity to intercept him before the violent fugitive slips across the border forever. At first reluctant to become involved, and then counted out because of the perceived ineptitude of his small town force, Owens ultimately rallies his team and takes the matter into his own hands, setting the stage for a classic showdown.
(Lionsgate US)
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Reviews (13)
Jee-woon Kim's ability to make the viewer tolerate unbelievable plot twists and WTF characters and their motivations lies in creating a fictional micro-universe that, if you embrace it, gave you the experience the director wanted you to have. The Last Stand may have had all the makings to follow its predecessors in this, but somehow it all got screwed up. The FBI command room destroys the illusion of the fatalistic isolation of the heroes, the governor is an extremely inept actor (one you'd almost forget), and no one has drilled into the director's head enough that there's a marked difference between making a movie in Korea and the US. That's why some of the action scenes look pretty lame, even as the camera whizzes past on a crane when the characters are just standing around and talking. As a result, The Last Stand doesn't so much resuscitate Arnold's career, but the era of 90s B-movies with Van Damme, where main street stands in for an entire city, the supporting characters shoot the bad guys with one hand, fall in love with each other with the other, and the heroes don't give their honor away for free. I don't blame the director, though. Given that he still didn't know a word of English during filming, the blame clearly lies with his translator.
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The people behind this film fortunately quickly realized that this won't be another Terminator 2 and that it won't work "directly" with Arnold anymore, so they went about it cleverly. Thanks to skillful editing and camera work, the main protagonist is quite watchable, although many other things here are downright hopeless. An awfully boring and generic villain, inconsistent action (excellently edited shots intertwine with horribly confusing and chaotic ones), uneven pace, average one-liners. Sometimes I felt a brackish feeling. Yes, self-parody doesn't hurt (sometimes there is nothing else left) and it's still quite alright, but don't expect anything groundbreaking. It's not in any way progressive or clever from a creative standpoint. Just an average action movie with a few very interesting chases in a cornfield.
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Arnold portrays a character that would have very well suited John Wayne (a comparison with Rio Bravo is unavoidable). But whereas the Duke took building his own cult seriously, the former California governor exhibits a much better-developed sense of self-irony, which even pokes fun at the “untouchable” subject of patriotism. Schwarzenegger’s advanced age is a favoured target of the jokes in The Last Stand and the narrative is structured around the clashes between the slower world of the laid-back sheriff and the events of the action-packed world of national public enemies. Due to its having the nature of a comeback, The Last Stand is constructed as a return to genre traditions, so the old-school methods of the seasoned cop necessarily have a greater effect than the more modern techniques of the somewhat tardy FBI agents (though the sheriff also had to replace horses with Chevrolets for the purposes of product placement). The slightly overwrought screenplay uses most action B-movies clichés (angry emptying of clips, traitors in the ranks of the good guys) and fully utilises the fetishes that make the United States the United States (fast cars, high-power guns). However, the combination of western nostalgia and hyper-fast action works much less well here than in The Good, the Bad, the Weird. Probably because of the lower budget, the action scenes don’t go too overboard, the villain isn’t very distinctive and the film’s build-up is haphazard. All of the supporting characters merely clear space for Arnold, who – without exerting excessive effort – reaffirms his long-deserved place in the pantheon of great action heroes. Without him, this would be just a passable action flick shown on broadcast TV in which it probably wouldn’t occur to anyone to see an occasionally stimulating contribution to the discussion on the current wave of retro action movies. As with The Expendables, so with The Last Stand – whenever an action legend appears on the screen (only one such hero here, unfortunately), the entertainment value sharply increases. However, I am convinced that if Kim had had greater directorial leeway, this would have been a much more solid action movie in which the simply bad moments and the intentionally bad moments (in the mould of naïve actions flicks) would have been more easily distinguishable. As a new film starring Arnold, in the way we like him the most, The Last Stand is satisfying. As a new film by a South Korean master of many genres, it’s a bit of a disappointment. 65%
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An excellent modern western that has absolutely everything it should have. Plus Arnold Schwarzenegger. The action scenes are imaginative and clear, the cast is one of a kind (Peter Stormare enjoying himself!), the script rides the nostalgic wave and, thanks to a generous portion of humor, it can afford to use even hackneyed clichés without getting on one's nerves. Arnold is simply wonderful in the role of the uncompromising Austrian buffer who stands in the way of the fleeing thug. There is no point in criticizing his acting - he is still the same action actor, who just needs to say one sentence, throw one harsh look, then shoot one magazine and crown everything with one funny line. The Last Stand is entertaining (a really long shootout lightened by funny moments of all kinds), it is suspenseful (the first clash with Stormare's gang), breathtaking (the car chase in the cornfield really blew me away), and it doesn’t need much to be a lot better than The Expendables 2 (the ending on the bridge).
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To me, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a character that is associated with Saturday nights, when I was looking forward to another action flick in which Arnie never ever disappointed me. That was the way it worked when I was young, and I got so used to Arnold that to me, he became the greatest action hero. But then he stopped making movies, which made me really angry, only to return in 2013 with a mouthful of great lines. When the movie The Last Stand opened in cinemas, I tried to find the time to go see it. I eventually managed to find some time in the middle of the week, only to find out I was the only person in the movie theater, which made me pretty sad because in my opinion a star of Arnold’s caliber does not deserve that. And what makes the whole thing even sadder is that this is actually an absolutely honest self-reflection by Arnold, who pokes fun at himself and his career as governor. On top of that, you get a great story and you will fall in love with pretty much every character in that sleepy American country town. Anyways, I had one problem with the movie and that was the crazy and shaky camera operated by the director Ji-un Kim. It’s strange that a director who does not even speak English is now making a movie that marks the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger. All in all, he did a good job – it was a bit unusual, but you can get over that. It’s just I am not used to this kind of filmmaking is all. As regards Arnold himself, I didn’t believe that he would get back in such great shape, but he still did put in an absolutely amazing performance that kept me entertained throughout the entire movie and I am really glad that he is once again a part of Hollywood. Hopefully, he will keep stirring things up. By the way, when Arnie uttered the last line on emigrants to the USA, I realized that there are very few American-born actors in this movie. Was it on purpose? It may have been, but despite that it’s an absolutely honest movie that will keep you entertained for 107 minutes and that’s the main reason why you should watch it and give it a chance. Arnold is simply the man.
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