The Last Stand: Arnold's enertaining comeback becomes a box office flop

Unfortunately, Arnold Schwarzenegger's been having a tough time. After his controversial affair with his maid, he has had a tough time with his plan to get back to stardom. After making numerous small appearances in films like The Expendables, he finally has his own movie, and....it completely flopped.

The Last Stand:
Although this film was a box office flop, it's actually quite entertaining. It's violent, bloody, adrenaline-filled fun. Arnold is back, and his role as the bad-ass but kind sheriff suits him perfectly. The plot follows a small town sheriff teaming with some FBI agents to take down a Mexican drug lord who is in a super-fast car heading towards the Mexican border, but when he crosses the sheriff's path, trying to cut through his town, he learns that the sheriff doesn't go down without a fight. That's as simple as it gets. Other cast members include Johnny Knoxville (whose role is smaller than advertised, but still he delivers laughs), Jaimie Alexander (Kyle XY, Thor), Award-winner Forest Whitaker (who is the person who should get second-billing, rather than Knoxville), Rodrigo Santoro (Lost, 300, I love You Phillip Morris), Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights), Luiz Guzman (known as a favorite of great directors like Steven Soderberg, appearing in Traffic, and Paul Thomas Anderson, appearing in Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love, also acting in HBO's How to Make it in America, and voicing characters in Grand Theft Auto), Peter Stormare (Fargo, Armageddon, Get the Gringo, Wilfred, Weeds, Hawaii Five-0, Seinfeld, Bad Boys II, 8MM), and Spanish film actor Eduardo Noriega. With all this talent behind it, how did this film flop? Was it because of Arny's recent scandals and old age? Some of his lines in here are his best in years. Was it because of the 10-year gap between this and his last leading role in Terminator 3? Whatever it is, I hope the film gets a cult following on DVD and Blu-ray. The film has near non-stop action, and features everything you could hope for: a small beginning shoot-out, chases on foot, car chases, highway chases, fist-fights, large shootouts, and an epic ending confrontation between hero and villain. The shootouts are bloody and spectacular, the car chases are intense, and the acting is, acceptable at best. Best you don't see this movie for the drama and acting skills, you see it for the one-liners and mind-blowing action. The humor in the film is also very effective. Johnny Knoxville provides some slapstick, Arnold provides one-liners, and the townsfolk are just really funny, especially the diner customers and the antique store owner. The film itself is very predictable, but like Gangster Squad, the simplicity has a charm to it, and like Squad, it's stylized, but in a different way. Instead of the super slow-motion, sleek, Zack Snyder way of stylizing, it's the gritty, bloody, brutal, Robert Rodriguez type of stylized. With it's colorful characters, simple plot, bloody and stylized violence, fun action sequences, and effective humor make The Last Stand a great Schwarzenegger film, and great for anyone who just wants a ball-to-the-wall, leave-your-brain-at-the-door movie. 3.5/5 stars.

         (Image: Wikipedia)