Arnold fails to deliver a strong leading performance.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, known for starring in hard hitting action movies, has made a return to Hollywood as the leading man in The Last Stand. The actor turned Governor turned actor again has delivered some of the best classics of all time with the likes of The Terminator franchise, Predator, Collateral Damage, and Total Recall all under his belt. With Schwarzenegger returning as the lead role after a 10 year absence, the question on people’s mind is – does he still have it? Can he carry a project on his back and bring it to success like he once could?
The Last Stand takes us into the small border town of Sommerton Junction where Ray Lewis (Schwarzenegger), the town sheriff, spends most of his time handling civil matters after leaving his chaotic post as an LAPD officer. Things quickly escalate when the most wanted drug kingpin, Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega), makes a brilliant escape while under the custody of the FBI and hightails it to the small town where he aims to make a swift exit into Mexico. Now Ray, along with a few others, must take a stand against the criminal hurling his way in his very impressive Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 and send him back to the feds. Johnny Knoxville, Luis Guzman, Forest Whitaker, and Jaimie Alexander all star alongside Mr. Olympia himself.
Now – back to the question, did the action hero deliver yet another successful gut punching flick that he’s been known to do? While there is no doubt that Arnold delivered a pretty quality ass kicking, playing on his age throughout the entire movie definitely cheapens the experience. While Arnold is known for classic one liners, heavy dialogue is not his forte so it’s important that a script really cater to his ability, which I feel it failed to accomplish, making a lot of things comedic. My last gripe with the movie was Johnny Knoxville who plays the same character in every movie, a jackass. So what does this movie have to offer? It delivers a ton of action and an impressive performance by Noriega as the cold Cortez. Arnold really is one of the toughest dudes and can still hold his own in a generation of youth.
The Last Stand is in theaters now.
Ben Lester (bjams11)