The leader of a drug cartel busts out of a courthouse and speeds to the Mexican border, where the only thing in his path is a sheriff and his inexperienced staff (www.imdb.com).
Director: Jee-woon Kim (The Good, The Bad, The Weird, I Saw the Devil)
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Johnny Knoxville, Forest Whitaker, Genesis Rodriguez, Eduardo Noriega
The Last Stand chucks Arnold Schwarzenegger in to a role where his gun does (most of) the talking. When all is quiet in the small town of Sommerton, the big man feels uneasy with the dialogue he's given, but when all hell breaks loose it's like he never gave up acting. TLS is his first full-length feature since governing California.
There's a roughly spun narrative, drawn together by Deputy Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger) and his police rookies, who're investigating a murder, and Forest Whitaker's FBI hot shots, who're made to look stupid as they're consistently outmaneuvered by an escaped drug lord (Eduardo Noriega) who's making his way to the Mexican border.
Both stories are linked... or are they? Little information is given to justify the events taking place in Sommerton. When Owens and his team, which includes Jackass' Johnny Knoxville (he's actually quite entertaining) fortify their town, it's easy to forget when the bullets fly and the blood drenches the dirt. The action is almost perfect; the level of gore pushes its 15 rating to the edge. Even the car chase sequence is expertly played.
South-Korean director Jee-woon Kim makes his first film for the west, and rightfully so. The Last Stand, with a few hints of dire acting, has a equal level of cheesy lines and ferocious action. One to watch for the Schwarzenegger lovers.
3.5/5
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