The Last Stand

Plot synopsis:
Sheriff Ray Owens (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a man who has resigned himself to a life of fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town Sommerton Junction, Arizona, after leaving his LAPD post following a bungled operation that left him wracked with failure and defeat after his partner was crippled and his team decimated. The crimes experienced in Sommerton range from the Mayor parking his Camaro in the fire lane and vintage arms collector Lewis Dinkum (Johnny Knoxville) firing off guns at slabs of meat with the deputies. One night, international drug lord Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) makes a daring escape from FBI custody in Las Vegas and speeds off in a modified Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1, taking Agent Ellen Richards (Génesis Rodríguez) as his hostage as he races southbound toward Mexico at speeds over 200 mph. Agent John Bannister (Forrest Whitaker) has a blockade set up in Bullhead City, Arizona, but Cortez's men mow down the police officers on site and clear the road for him to continue his getaway. Cortez also uses his extraordinary driving skills to immobilize two SWAT vehicles headed toward Summerton Junction. Before flying to Arizona, Agent Bannister has his team do a financial background check on all agents involved to find out how Cortez managed to escape so easily.Sometime past 4:00 in the morning, Owens dispatches deputies Jerry Bailey (Zach Gilford) and Sarah Torrance (Jaimie Alexander) to visit the residence of the local farmer Parsons (Harry Dean Stanton), who has suddenly missed his usual milk delivery at the diner. After discovering that Parsons has been murdered, the deputies follow a trail of tire tracks that lead them to Cortez's henchman Thomas Burrell (Peter Stormare) and his mercenary cutthroats, who are planting a mobile assault bridge across the canyon that marks the U.S./Mexico border. Bailey is fatally shot in the middle of a shootout between the deputies and the thugs before Owens rushes in to bring his officers back to his precinct. Shortly after being notified by Agent Bannister of Cortez's presence, Owens gathers Torrance and senior Deputy Mike "Figgy" Figuerola (Luis Guzmán). He also deputizes jailed local Frank Martinez (Rodrigo Santoro), a former Marine with PTSD who developed a streak of never finishing what he started. Because Bailey was his friend, Martinez insists that he will not falter. Finally, Owens recruits Dinkum to protect their town. Dinkum agrees only if he becomes a deputy and if he keeps the gun he used at the beginning of the movie (having gotten in trouble for it previously).At 7:10 AM, Owens and his deputies have the town's main road barricaded with cars when Burrell and his men arrive, prompting a lengthy firefight. Armed only with a Tommy Gun, Figuerola holds off the thugs before being injured by a sniper. Owens and Dinkum mow down a majority of the thugs with a Vickers machine gun dubbed "Nazi-Killer" mounted on the back of a school bus, while Torrance snipes several gunmen on the rooftops. After Owens kills Burrell, Cortez's Corvette eventually arrives in town, veering past the barricade as Owens and the deputies shoot at it. Cortez ejects Agent Richards from the car before speeding through a corn field. Suddenly, he encounters the Mayor's red Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 commandeered by Owens before both cars collide with a tractor. A dazed Cortez continues his escape on foot, but Owens meets him at the bridge. Owens ignores Cortez's bribe offers before both men wrestle each other. Despite sustaining slashes and stab wounds from Cortez's push dagger, Owens defeats the drug lord and handcuffs him before dragging him back into town with the battered Camaro. Agent Bannister arrives to take Cortez back into custody and arrests Agent Richards for taking the drug lord's bribe and aiding in his escape. Deputies Figuerola and Dinkum are taken to the hospital to be treated for their wounds. Martinez turns in the deputy's badge, Bailey's badge, that Owens had given him earlier. Owens tells him to keep it, as he's earned it. As the Mayor sees what is left of his Camaro, Owens warns him about parking in the fire lane before he, Torrance and Martinez walk into the diner.

Tags: mystery, neo noir, murder, violence, action, humor, revenge

Review:
You know you can't defend seeing lots of nameless guys in black suits and machine guns mowing down people and that there's only a bullet here or there that might get one of our good guys (and I mean, y'know, Luis Guzman, who is always fun to watch in that very familiar character-actor way by the way, same for Harry Dean Stanton's walk-on), and it hearkens back to that time in the 1980's and 90's when Arnold Schwarzenegger dominated cineplexes with this kind of action trash.
How do I simply say "I got thrilled by the action, laughed at the craziness in the set-pieces, and loved seeing Arnold tear it up and have one-line retorts: "How do you feel?" asks a towns-person - "OLD!")But aside from the story, which seems to be fairly cookie-cutter with the Mexican cartel kingpin who is getting across from Nevada down to the border to get back to his safe land, and with various tropes that can be read from not too far away (given some heft by the fact that Eduardo Noriega cuts a very sharp figure as a madman with a zest for stunt- driving - like a character one might find almost in Rodriguez/Tarantino's Grindhouse, or a hybrid of such characters they write), what is there?
The Last Stand isn't perfect, but Arnold fans can rejoice, for he truly is back!!The premise (for those that haven't watched the trailer a dozen times like me) is a Mexican cartel boss (Eduardo Noriega) has escaped custody during transport and is heading to the Mexican border, and he is going to get there by going through the sleepy town of Sommerton, Arizona.
The pacing was perfect, the film flew by.The cast was great...Luis Guzman is hilarious as Arnold's Deputy, Forest Whitaker as the lead FBI agent, Peter Stormare as the maniacal "right hand man" villain, Johnny Knoxville as the town clown, Harry Dean Stanton as the crotchety old farmer, the list goes on...The film was everything I wanted from an Arnold movie, it's fun(!), full of fast paced action and lots of (funny) one liner's.
As if this wasn't exciting enough, add to the mix I Saw The Devil director Jee-woon Kim at the helm, it has the makings of a great comeback.The Last Stand follows a former LAPD detective who is now the sheriff of a small quiet town and enjoying the peaceful life.
This film not only gets Arnold back where he belongs on the big screen it also kicks off a movie year that almost feels like the old days of action again with numerous franchise and action icons bringing the pain in 2013.
But don't worry, there are a few more hidden gems.Arnold and his team, who consist of the moody veteran played by Luis Guzman, the rookie cop played by Zach Gilford, the beautiful but skilled deputy played by Jaimie Alexander, her screw-up ex boyfriend (who is stuck in the towns single jail cell) played by Rodrigo Santoro, and of course, the crazy, eccentric goof-ball, who happens to own a small museum of artillery, played by Johnny Knoxville, ban together to become the 'Last Stand' between Cortez and freedom.The shootouts are all high tension, and there is plenty of high octane car chases for you Fast and Furious fans, plus there are some amazing visuals as well.
Arnold plays a sheriff in a small southwestern town and defends said town against an army of drug runners looking to escort their escaped drug kingpin back to Mexico.Good support cast with Forest Whitaker and Luis Guzman.Johnny Knoxville's screen time is minimal thankfully and doesn't ruin the film .
I found The Last Stand to be a very enjoyable action flick as well as the best movie Arnold made in a long time.
But all that looks set to change when notorious drug lord Eduardo Noriega (Gabriel Cortez), who is scheduled for death row, breaks free from custody in Las Vegas and comes hurtling in a fast sports car towards Summerton to rendezvous with right hand man Burrell (Peter Stormare.) In a battle of odds with FBI Agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker), who is hot on the trail of Noriega, Owens takes a stand with his deputies to stand firm and protect their little town.After a ten year absence, during which it seemed unlikely he would ever return to acting, it's easy to appreciate the void Arnold Schwarzenegger left in the world of action cinema, and indeed cinema in general, and for sheer nostalgia to overwhelm your opinion of this new film of his.
Rather than turning to more modern, flashy directors like Jee-Woon Kim, it would be interesting to see how Arnold himself might prove, directing one of his own films, in the style his old mate Clint does.
I thought Johnny Knoxville was great in his role and he and Arnold played off each other well.If you are a action movie and car guy, go see it..
While trailers and synopses make The Last Stand seem like nothing special, which, deep down, it really isn't, it still manages to be a fun and energetic throw back to the 80s actioners that Schwarzenegger made his name with.The plot of The Last Stand is hardly involved: drug lord Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noreiga) has been busted out of federal custody in Las Vegas and is now driving a souped up Corvette at high speed to the U.S.-Mexico border, where he plans to cross within a few miles of the town of Sommerton, assisted by hired thug Burrell (Peter Stormare).
However, what Cortez doesn't know is that Sommerton's sheriff is former L.A. drug task force officer Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger) who fled the big city for the sleepy environs of Sommerton after some particularly nasty experiences in L.A. With his deputies Mike Figuerola (Luis Guzman), Sarah Torrence (Jaimie Alexander), Jerry Bailey (Zach Gilford), local gun collector Lewis Dinkum (Johnny Knoxville) and former soldier Frank Martinez (Rodrigo Santoro) to assist, Ray is determined to stop Cortez from reaching Mexico, even as federal agent John Bannister (Forest Whittaker) tries to disuade him from taking on Cortez from afar.The Last Stand isn't really going to tax anyone's brain power throughout it's running time.
Korean director Jee-woon Kim knows how to put his action set-pieces together to keep you involved.The Last Stand has some of the typical low-key comedy that was often the stable of Schwarzenegger's earlier films.
Yes, it hits many of the staples of this kind of film, the underdog heroes banding together to fight off the bad guy, complete with a montage sequence showing them readying for battle, but it still proves to be like a cinematic warm blanket: comfortable enough for you to enjoy the familiarity.The Last Stand also recognizes that Schwarzenegger is a little older than your typical action film star and mines some decent moments here and there.
At time credulity is strained that the average man in his mid 60s would be able to pull off some of the things that Ray does in the film, but I wasn't expecting a true to life experience from The Last Stand when I walked in.Schwarzenegger won't win any particular accolades for his performance in The Last Stand, but he is back in his usual, dependable form in this first starring role in a decade.
Arnold is back and I hear his love for action movies hasn't faded just like his love for his ex-wife.The Last Stand is the first film of 2013 that I actually enjoyed watching.
Arnie does the job playing the John Wayne-style sheriff of this little lazy town, and he's surrounded by a solid mix of character actors and young up-and-comers.This is a very solid action film with some very neat set-pieces.
The supporting cast is ably handled by Kim (pretty Jaimie Alexander, as the sheriff's deputy, impresses, while Johnny Knoxville and Luis Guzmán battle for best comic relief, and Rodrigo Santoro finally gets a meaty role, notches away from his Greek-god, or rather, Italian beefcake, appearances), although the screenplay (Andrew Knauer, Jeffrey Nachmanoff, George Nolfi) wavers a bit and the music (by Mowg) should have been more flamboyant to counter the film's lapsing into inert moments.
It's good to see Arnold back on the big screen in action, but both he and Kim need to do better than this cookie-cutter work.For Arnold though, he already looks to progress onward with bigger and better films, and with his acting improving with age, and impressive future work lined up (a crime thriller by David Ayer), it's a good sign he's going the Clint Eastwood route.This was a fun movie and I'm giving it credit for not pretending to be what it's not.Welcome back, Arnold..
As his character in the Terminator promised he came back and he did so in this guilty pleasure action packed film directed by Jee-woon Kim (I Saw the Devil, The Good the Bad and the Weird) from South Korea.
I think Schwarzenegger fans will be very pleased with this movie and have a fun time because it is a very passable and enjoyable film.Sheriff Ray Owens (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a former LAPD officer, has moved back to his small local community of Sommerton Junction.
In Sommerton, Arizona, the veteran Sheriff Ray Owens (Arnold Schwarzenegger) works with his inexperienced deputies Mike Figuerola (Luis Guzmán), Sarah Torrance (Jaimie Alexander) and Jerry Bailey (Zach Gilford) rescuing cats from the trees and giving parking tickets.When the powerful Mexican drug lord Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) escapes from the convoy of the FBI under the command of Agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker) while being transported to another prison, he heads in a Corvette in the direction of Sommerton expecting to reach Mexico.
Ray deputizes the troublemaker Frank Martinez (Rodrigo Santoro) and the fool Lewis Dinkum (Johnny Knoxville) that collects weapons to help him to stop the criminal on the run, avoiding that he reaches Mexico."The Last Stand" is a funny action movie with hilarious moments, and great cast, highlighting Arnold Schwarzenegger, Forest Whitaker, Rodrigo Santoro, Eduardo Noriega and Johnny Knoxville among other great stars.
A promising premise involving a bad guy speeding towards the Mexican border and the small town and its sheriff (Arnold Schwarzenegger) that stand in his way seemed destined for senseless greatness.
Stallone went with Bullet to the Head, Willis returned with yet another Die Hard, and Schwarzenegger gave up his Governor role for that of a small town sheriff in The Last Stand.Directed by Korean Kim Jee-woon, who did the genre blending The Good, The Bad and The Weird, Kim continued with that mix-mash of genres, combining the good ol' Hollywood action genre with that of a Western, complete with small town saloon, gunfights along Main Street, and having the sheriff and his deputies defending their town and way of life against a band of outlaws armed to the teeth with military grade weapons and training.
The plot is kept extremely simple and linear, with a Mexican cartel head Gabriel Cortez (Eduwardo Noriega) breaking out of FBI custody, and making a run fit in a prototype sports car to provide for token car chases across to the Mexican border, with only the town of Sommerton Junction standing in his way.Schwarzenegger headlines the production despite having the likes of credible character actors like Forest Whitaker in the mix, relegated to looking mean and bad-ass, and responsible for very poor escort of a high valued prisoner in Las Vegas.
In his first film vehicle since the end of his political career, action icon Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Ray Owens, a former big city cop who's chosen to live in relative peace and quiet as sheriff of the small border town of Sommerton Junction.
no but it does have a whole lotta charm & fun going for it.I'm a huge fan of Arnold Schwarznegger's films (he rarely makes a truly bad one, "Junior" I'm looking at you) just take a look at his filmography, it's mighty impressive and "The Last Stand" would rank right up there with the likes of "Red Heat", "The Last Action Hero" (an underrated gem in my eyes), "Twins" and "The 6th Day" whilst perhaps not quiet up there with his very best ("Total Recall", "Terminator's 1 to 3", "Predator", "Commando", "Conan", "True Lies" & "The Running Man") but these were Classic Vintage Arnie!!!
The ensemble cast is TERRIFIC and Arnie has surrounded himself with some wonderfully fun characters...Johnny Knoxsville is a Blast here as "Lewis Dickum" creating for himself probably the highlight of his career.Luiz Guzman is always a fun watch & here he plays Sheriff Mike.Jaime Alexander is GORGEOUS & terrific as Sarah Torrance.There's a couple of fun baddies...Peter Stormare as the Over-the-Top Burrell and his boss Eduardo Noriego as Gabriel Cortez who drives like a mad-man in his 200mph+ car but who in the end gets his ass handed to him by Arnie's Sheriff Ray Owens It's Arnie's film for sure but the supporting cast sure does help him create a creditable return to the movies.If your a fan of Arnie's then I can't believe you wouldn't enjoy this one with Arnie ageing right in front of your eyes & beginning to look a lot like Clint Eastwood (now wouldn't that be a great pair up?) This is everything "A Good Day to Die Hard" wasn't...Fun, charming, funny & thoroughly ENTERTAINING.This was the kind of film you could have dropped Bruce Willis's "John McClaine" into and it would have made for a fun Die Hard film but nope they sent him off to Russia to play second fiddle to his son....crazy!This is an almost perfect Friday Night Movie...Get the Beers & Pizza in and ENJOY.I hope these cast of characters return but if not well we've got "Escape Plan" with Arnie & Stallone to look forward to and judging by that trailer it looks like a whole lotta silly & hokey fun.Rocketeer Flyer's Rating an up up & away 8/10.
Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Arnold Schwarzenegger's filmography in order, I come to his comeback movie The Last Stand.Plot In A Paragraph: With the FBI in pursuit, the escaped leader of a drug cartel speeds to the Mexican border, where the only thing in his path is a sheriff (Arnie) and his inexperienced staff.It's good to have Arnie back in action, there is an undeniable pleasure in watching him kicking ass again.
From one of South Korean cinema's most versatile filmmakers, The Last Stand is director Kim Jee- woon's English-language debut that also marks the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger to the movie industry after a decade of absence and while it's not even close to this director's best works, it still succeeds as a pretty good old-fashioned action comedy.The story of The Last Stand follows Sheriff Owens, a former LAPD officer who now runs the law in a small border town in Arizona.
The old Arnie would have taken the bad guys out single handed but this time he has a team of kick-ass deputies and a screwball (Knoxville)to share the load which makes it a little more plausible.Sure the critics who criticize indifferent bad story and mediocre acting have a point but those have NEVER been a prerequisite for a Schwarzenegger action flick..
I am a huge Arnie fan, a big portion of my childhood was spent watching his films, so after a ten year hiatus you can imagine hearing the worlds best action hero was returning to the silver screen headlining a new film, I was excited, and after finally getting around to seeing it I am not disappointed.Firstly allow me to get this out of the way, if you're looking for a thought compelling, deep and complex film with a great story and original characters...turn back this is not that film, but it achieves exactly what it sets out to be, a balls to the walls exciting action film allow me to tell you why.Arnold is Sommertons bad ass sheriff Ray Owens, living in a peaceful community after a stint in the LAPD, he spends his time now rescuing cats stuck up trees and helping old ladies cross the street (presumably) but when Gabriel Cortez a menacing drug lord escapes FBI custody ( in a very exciting and well shot scene may I say) and Ray finds out he is heading towards Sommerton him and some of his more ballsy residents take a stand, what ensues is 100 minutes of insanity, I don't want to give too much away about the story, albeit not a very deep story there are interesting moments it is best not to see coming.Excellent action sequences that I wouldn't expect to be done better than an Asian director, great cast of actors who hold their own with their characters, who although not incredibly original don't fall into "stock" characters either, but too a good sense of humour, The Last Stand doesn't take its self too seriously, but not to the point where it is just a parody of its self, this is an adrenaline fueled fast action ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat, Oscar worthy?
This is a return to Arnie being a bad ass,the best bad ass,great support from the rest of the cast,Forest Whitaker is excellent as is Johnny Knoxville and the rest,the direction is sharp and keeps the action flowing so there are no slow parts and it does not spend time with pointless back stories.This film is worth watching for the pure pleasure of escapism and you seriously will not be disappointed.
I like this film, I enjoy it for the action and gun blazing, the story, speed racing with cars I had blast watching this movie.
This time with Arnold as a Sheriff, I don't think I have seen that before, but he makes a good sheriff and protect his town well.Entertaining, Action packed, funny and more, this is one to watch with the guys :D.