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)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Sheriff Owens is a man who has resigned himself to a life of fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town Sommerton Junction after leaving his LAPD post following a bungled operation that left him wracked with failure and defeat after his partner was crippled. After a spectacular escape from an FBI prisoner convoy, the most notorious, wanted drug kingpin in the hemisphere is hurtling toward the border at 200 mph in a specially outfitted car with a hostage and a fierce army of gang members. He is headed, it turns out, straight for Summerton Junction, where the whole of U.S. law enforcement will have their last opportunity to make a stand and intercept him before he 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 accepts responsibility for the face off. (Reliance Entertainment)
(more)Videos (18)
Reviews (13)
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.
()
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).
()
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.
()
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.
()
Ads