4 out of 5

Director: Kim Ji-Woon

Due to its ‘tons of foreigners approaching a very American genre’ setup, ‘The Last Stand’ is like a less arty and bonkers Sukiyaki Western Django.  The difference here is that ‘Stand’ is a lot more fun… because it’s a worse movie.  At no point does director Kim try to make this non-cheeky, and at no point does the script pretend like its anything more than pretty much by-the-books.  By embracing the formula – and by using Arnold’s age as part of the character and not dressing it up like an Expendables comeback – ‘The Last Stand’ succeeds as a really great totally average flick.  Sticking with one of his two common DPs, Ji-woon gives us an easy to read color scheme – cold blues for the FBI, dusty yellows for the border town – and actually sticks to a mostly restrained shooting style, though his loves his pans, and the camera is constantly surveying the territory in impressive swoops that keep the momentum going.  Our plot could be communicated through similarly swooping grand gestures: escaped criminal passes through a small town, local sheriff (with an impressive past) decides to uphold the law and keep that criminal from getting over the border.  I’ll let you figure out who plays the sheriff.  Even after a job in public speaking Arnold has trouble wrapping around some of his lines, but it’s all part of the charm of the movie – Peter Stormare with a Southern accent, for example – and the way the flick had me legitimately chuckling at one-liners hasn’t happened since movies like this were the norm in the 80s and early 90s.  Everything’s so self-conscious and flashy lately, or, oppositely, purposefully “back to basics”, that  it’s nice to have a seasoned crew delivering a seasoned movie that knows exactly what it is.  Kim’s movies normally feel incredibly ‘finished,’ and he seemed to be taking some smaller steps here – different studio, different country, trying to make it look “American”, who knows – but any herky-jerky moments slide right into the next fun scene, so it’s another good notch on his resume.