Movie Review: The Last Stand

This movie is a modern take on a classic western, complete with a small town sheriff, outlaws passing through town, and a whole lot of guns.  There are  bits of comedy from Johnny Knoxville and Luis Guzman. Most importantly, there is the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a leading man, shooting guns and delivering one-liners like only Arnold can.  

Schwarzenegger plays Ray Owens, the sheriff of a dusty Arizona town on the US-Mexico border. Owens gets alerted by the FBI (led by Forest Whitaker) that drug king-pin, Gabriel Cortez (played by Eduardo Noriega) and his men are on the road from Las Vegas and headed straight for his town.  Owens gets his inexperienced deputies together (Luis Guzman, Zach Gilford, Jaimie Alexander, Rodrigo Santoro, Johnny Knoxville) and puts up a fight against Cortez and his men. 

As an "Arnold" movie, this movie works well for fans because Arnold gives what is expected; one liners, big guns, and taking out the bad guys.  Arnold is no spring chicken and he knows it and it works for him because he soldiers on.

What doesn't really work is the under-utilization and hamming it up of some of the actors.  Jaimie Alexander gets some tender moments with Gilford, Santoro, and Arnold (and can out-act any of them), but as Deputy Sarah Torrance she doesn't get to be the warrior-woman that modern audiences might hope.  Johnny Knoxville is allowed to ham it up to what I assume was the producers and directors take on what he did on MTV's Jackass.  Given his role doesn't have much weight to it other than being a goofball gun-nut, but he does teeter on going over the top.  Unbearably good looking, Brazilian Rodrigo Santoro feels out of place and miscast. While he looks great on screen opposite Jaimie Alexander and is a solid actor in other films (Che and Redbelt), the role seems too far of a stretch. 

Unfortunately, the old man standing up to young bucks thing has been done better (example: Gran Torino).  The script and dialogue for The Last Stand is passable at best due to the already low expectations of an Arnold-movie. The move leans on the over exposition of character relationships and action sequences.  It's still enjoyable - who doesn't love Arnold? - but the lack of originality hurts the grade.  

Still better than Arnold's Junior, End of Days, and The 6th Day.