Movie Review: The Last Stand (2012)

The smell of nostalgia is in the air again. Within mere weeks we will see the return of no less than three ’80s action superstars. While we have to wait the longest for A Good Day to Die Hard (Feb 14), there’s also Sylvester Stallone in Walter Hill’s Bullet to the Head. In the meantime, this weekend sees the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hollywood’s biggest action star, in director Kim Jee-woon’s Hollywood debut, The Last Stand. While the film is definitely a step up from John Woo’s Hard Target, Kim brings his Korean action film sensibilities while not being afraid to give American audiences what they expect too. The Last Stand is one of the better action films the ’80s never gave us.

Nine miles outside of Vegas, a State Trooper (Arron Shiver) clocks something flying by at 197 mph. He thinks it’s someone flying a jet plane around with its lights off. What really flew by is the (following film presented by) Chevy Corvette ’01. The car is on its way to Vegas where Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) is being transported to death row by a SWAT team lead by Agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker). Cortez is helped to escape where he takes off in said Corvette with Agent Ellen Richards (Genesis Rodriguez) as hostage. Bannister knows Cortez is headed for the border but not before he has to pass through the sleepy town of Sommerton, Arizona.

Summerton County Sheriff Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger) has stayed behind to keep an eye on things while the rest of town head off to watch the local high school football team attempt a state championship. Bannister informs Ray that Cortez may be headed his way. Ray soon discovers the local farmer is found murdered by Cortez’ henchmen Burrell (Peter Stormare), the fishy truck driver he met in the diner earlier that day. Taking Cortez’ assault on his town personally, he’s loading up on firepower along with the help of Deputies Sarah (Jaimie Alexander) and Mike (Luis Guzman), and deputized prisoner Frank (Rodrigo Santoro) and town loon Lewis Dinkum (Johnny Knoxville).

Article Author: Cinenerd

A Utah based writer, born and raised in Salt Lake City, UT for better and worse. Cinenerd has had an obsession with film his entire life, finally able to write about them since 2009, and the only thing he loves more are his wife and their two wiener dogs (Beatrix Kiddo and Pixar Animation). …

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