Movielogr

Rating: 6.5 stars

Tags

Las Vegas drug cartel escape double cross murder small town border crime lord mexican cartel

All movies seen on 01/19/2013

View on: IMDb | TMDb

The Last Stand (2013)

Directed by Kim Jee-woon

Action | Crime | Thriller

Most recently watched by DaNiedabaya, noahphex, Drew73, PeterMartin, Javitron, Briantx17, seanCduregger, sleestakk, Allison, SIxBORG

Overview

Ray Owens is sheriff of the quiet US border town of Sommerton Junction after leaving the LAPD following a bungled operation. Following his escape from the FBI, a notorious drug baron, his gang, and a hostage are heading toward Sommerton Junction where the police are preparing to make a last stand to intercept them before they cross the border. Owens is reluctant to become involved but ultimately joins in with the law enforcement efforts

Rated R | Length 107 minutes

Actors

Arnold Schwarzenegger | Johnny Knoxville | Jaimie Alexander | Zach Gilford | Kristen Rakes | Christiana Leucas | Diana R. Lupo | John Patrick Amedori | Forest Whitaker | Peter Stormare | Luis Guzmán | Génesis Rodríguez | Rodrigo Santoro | Daniel Henney | Eduardo Noriega | Harry Dean Stanton | Billy Blair | Titos Menchaca | Arron Shiver | Richard Dillard | Doug Jackson | Mathew Greer | Chris Browning | James Burnett | Rio Alexander | David Midthunder | Tait Fletcher | Mark Sivertsen | David Kilde | David House | Kent Kirkpatrick | Mario Moreno | Don Ambabo | Ross Kelly | Ryan Jason Cook | Elias Gallegos | Kevin Wiggins | Lois Geary | Jermaine Washington | Terry Dale Parks | Allan Padelford | Tim Booth | Cliff Fleming | Eddie J. Fernandez | Francisco Peramos

Viewing History (seen 2 times)

Viewing Notes

I wanted to like this Chevy car commercial more than I did. I know it’s an over-the-top, not very realistic action movie, and as such, I should be able to ignore glaring plot holes and associated stupidity. Unfortunately, the stupid stuff seemed to be tightly coupled with the major product placement, the Chevy Corvette, which serves as a major plot device. Hard to overlook that stuff when you know it was driven (no pun intended) by commercial instead of artistic motives.

The last third of the movie won me over though, with some great action and, it almost hurts me to say this, great acting by Schwarzenegger and Knoxville. I was a little bummed that the Schwarzenegger/Knoxville pairing didn’t get more screen time.

There were a few little bon mots tossed out by Schwarzenegger related to past events in his real life that got a knowing nod and a chuckle from me, though seemed to be lost on most of the audience.

The other part of the movie that, at times, really annoyed me was the use of CGI effects for the blood and gore. When it worked well, it was fine, virtually unnoticeable. At other times it was so blatantly obvious and instantly took me out of the viewing experience (especially the scene with Harry Dean Stanton).

Another poor use of CGI came near the end involving a bridge over a canyon. Again, it was so obviously fake and green screened that it drew me out of the movie.

I HATE THAT. Use CGI where it works but use practical effects and location shooting when you need to as well. This is a big budget, major studio movie, and while I’m sure even these films need to be budget conscious, surely, SURELY, they could have afforded to a better job with this.

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