The Last Stand
Well, Arnold always said he would be back.
After an eight-year break from movies to be California’s governer, Arnold Schwarzenegger has returned to starring in bloody, mindless action movies with this thriller directed by Jee-woon Kim, making his American cinema debut after directing distinctive genre films like “I Saw the Devil” in South Korea. In retrospect, it’s a good step back into headlining movies for Schwarzenegger (not including his cameos in the “Expendables” films), but it definitely lacks the energy of his best actioners from his prime.
Arnie plays Ray Owens, a sherriff in a small town on the Arizona-Mexico border where nothing much happens, and the most exciting thing is the football team getting ready to make a run for the state championship. On the legal front, it’s a frequent visitor to the jailhouse for an ex-soldier on a Drunk and Disorderly. However, when the FBI loses the head of a powerful Mexican drug cartel (Eduardo Noriega) en route to federal prison, Owens and his deputies (Luis Guzman, Jamie Alexander, and Zach Gilford) might find themselves outmatched when the prisoner makes a run for the border in a souped-up car.
Just from writing that description alone, the story by screenwriter Andrew Knauer sounds like something out of “The Andy Griffith Show.” However, unlike Andy, Owens was a former narcotics officer in L.A., so he knows what it’s like to go up against someone like Noriega’s ruthless Gabriel Cortez. His deputies, however, do not, which makes it a good thing that the town’s local eccentric, Lewis (played by a scene-stealing Johnny Knoxville), is a gun enthusiast, to say the least. The film is pure B-movie, blood-and-guts action, the sort that Schwarzenegger starred in often during the ’80s, and he remains a magnetic screen presence, even when the action slows down a bit. Thankfully, director Kim doesn’t let it slow down for long, and the finale is a prolonged shootout with absurd humor sprinkled throughout. The key to enjoying it is to not think about it too much; otherwise, you might find yourself missing out on the film’s more insane, enjoyable moments.
