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)
Videos (18)
Reviews (13)
OK, let the main character, written somewhere between Wayne and Eastwood, play a guy with a heavy Germanic accent. In more emotionally tense scenes, he resembles a bulldozer accidentally parked at a bicycle show and makes jokes about being an immigrant. Place under it the soundtrack, which partly springs up in heavy bass offensives, sometimes pays modernity, sometimes shifts to (probably ironic) classics, and often also the western ancestors. And let a Korean film it all, so that it sometimes resembles a border western, sometimes series crap about Texas rangers, sometimes an 80's action film and sometimes modern (I still can't decide whether the überdigital cuts in some of the action were a stylish intention or not). A film is most likely to be made that works best in segments where no one is acting or talking. The problem is that there are very few of those segments, and also the fact that Arnie doesn't act in comic / dramatic scenes any better in the new millennium than in his golden years - and there are very few scenes where he can give his sarcastic one-liners. The significant difference from the eighties is that the crowds will no longer be rushing to go see it. It's a pity - the last The Expendables showed the path that these old tanks can still go down. It just takes more exaggeration, self-reflection and fewer attempts to "make character". During the final fight on the digital bridge, I couldn't decide whether to feel amusement or slight regret over that anachronism. A bit of both in the end, this is The Last Stand.
()
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).
()
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.
()
A likable cast in a simple action flick that sometimes surprises with a good idea and sometimes disappoints with a cheap
cliché. With Arnold, big guns, sexy chicks, a fast car chase in a corn field, etc., The Last Stand is quite entertaining and
definitely better than what the insipid trailer promised.
()
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%
()
Gallery (39)
Photo © Lionsgate / Merrick Morton, Tony Rivetti Jr.
![The Last Stand - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/158/462/158462434_f6b95d.jpg)
Ads