The Last Stand Review

I hadnt necessarily heard much good things for the Last Stand before I went to see it, but I went anyway, its arnie for god sake. Anyway, I still hear a lot of people saying "hes too old" and so on and so forth. but your missing the point here. So what if he looks weary and older, Clint eastwoods looked like that for years and nobody complains. Sometimes an actor can become something else with age. Over the years since hes not been doing films, Arnie has become somewhat of a cult figure. With his quotes "get to da choppaa!" becoming very famous over the internet as a meme and through youtube in recent years. I think people can be too godamned cynical in this day and age. Sure hes old, but damn, he does a good job in this movie.

The Expendables also helped to bring back the 80s action hero into the public consciousness. Expendables 2 brought back Arnie, Chuck norris, Stallone and a few newer action heroes and reintroduced new audiences to these old school movie heroes. and to follow with that,The Last stand is basically an old school 80s action film,  that needs to be looked upon in that light and treated as such.

The plot involves some escaped prisoner thats trying to get over the border, and Arnies little town is what stands between him and freedom. Arnie and his friends hold off the barricade, and the plot itself is pretty much as youd have expected. Whats interesting is how the supporting characters are used in this film. It almost appears like Arnie himself wanted a plot that ensured he didnt have to carry the film, the other guys in this movie get much more overall screen time than arnie does overall. but in saying that, it doesnt become detriment to the movie, the characters are pretty likeable. Johnny Knoxville puts in a fun performance, and the fat mexican guy makes for light comic relief too. They all feel placed well, and I think they had a good time making this movie, it comes across on screen how well they all gel together.

The Last stand plotwise is nothing new, but in terms of execution I feel its one of the most fun action movies of recent years. Its not ashamed to be loud, brash and atypical, and its not ashamed to show its main star kicking some ass. Its a good thing for the movie that the director felt he shouldnt rest upon the fact we have arnie as the star, and we get more backstory, more characterization. This does give the other characters room to breathe. There is a pretty long section of build up for the prisoner escaping however, and I think audiences will struggle to be as forgiving as I was. Thinking in terms of audience, They have gone to this film to see Arnie kick ass, and you do indeed see this, but it takes longer to get there than his films in the 80s. I feel it was a good choice in that it develops the film, but others may see otherwise and just want to get to the meat of it.

Once it really gets going though, we get some of the most fun action scenes from a film in recent memory. Watching arnie kick some ass on screen again really was a joy to see. id also like to mention the humour of the film, I was pretty much laughing out loud throughout the last 40 mins. Great stuff, Id recommend the last stand, but be open minded, leave your brain at the door, and enjoy it for what it is.