The Last Stand

A commercial flick that is written to use the franchise name that once was the ultimatum of action. The description I would give for Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer  The Last Stand will be that what you just read. Nothing unpredictable, nothing out of the odd but the bloody real gunshots with absolute brutality and a suitable and sensible heroism offered to Arnold makes this movie a delightful one time watch.

The plot doesn’t have much complications. Sheriff Ray Owens lives in a city near the Mexican border. He is a cop who actually had a hectic younger days fighting against the criminals. Notorious criminal Gabriel Cortez escapes from imprisonment and with all his powers he is trying to escape to Mexico by building a bridge in Sheriff’s home town with the help of his henchmen. The preparations of Cortez were so much perfect that the capable LAPD along with the SWAT team couldn’t do anything in short notice. Ultimately the responsibility comes to the shoulders of Sheriff and his men to stop Cortez and his men. How these 5 people with limited ammo sources manage to finish the smart ass ride of the criminals is the soul.

As I said, there isn’t anything to surprise you in this flick. It is the smartly paced making that doesn’t hover or anything not so serious that makes it an engaging thriller. The way they have pitched the role of Arnold never really takes us to level were we will blame the makers for casting him. The character demanded such an actor who has this off screen image of a tough guy. Over the top Heroism is very less when compared to what we saw in Expendables 2. All the additional characters manage to get a space in our head with some memorable scenes for each in a less than two hour long flick.
On screen, Arnold as I said fits into the role smoothly and he manages to pull off the action sequences quite impressively. Many dialogs kind of relate to his off screen present scenario and that also generates a kind of humor. Johnny Knoxville as Lewis and Luis Guzmán as Mike add fun to the screen. Rodrigo Santoro and Jaimie Alexander’s characters give the necessary support to Sheriff in the script. Forest Whitaker was satisfying as the FBI head. Eduardo Noriega and Peter Stormare did the antagonist part with required cool.

Direction is cool from Kim Ji-woon. Liked the way he handled Arnold and the whole scenario in a sensible way. Script isn’t that bad. Predictable narration. Loved the funny brutal gun fire sequence between Cortez’s men and the Cops as it offered a different kind of fun even in its total brutality. VFX in the last bridge sequence was a bit awkward. Other technical aspects were satisfying.

Overall, this one fits into the entertainment category. Sure shot entertainment for Schwarzenegger fans and a good one time watch for the rest. I am giving it a 3/5 and a quirky smile.