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11/21/2013

The Last Stand (2013) - Arnold's entertaining action comeback

♥♥♥♥
+ Best Comeback of the Year: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger defends the home front with Johnny Knoxville at his side on this humorous poster for Kim Jee-Woon's The Last Stand


The boss of a Mexican drug cartel escapes during a prison transfer in the US and heads South through the country in a modified sports car, leaving behind him a trail of death and destruction. But to cross the border, he will have to go through the small town Sommerton Junction...

 
The Last Stand is written by Andrew Knauer (Castle Falls (2021)) and directed by great South-Korean filmmaker Jee-woon Kim (Choyonghan kajok (1998)).

Despite a weak FBI-centered sub-plot led by the talented Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland (2006)), The Last Stand works outstandingly as Arnold Schwarzenegger's  (Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)) return to the big screen after his years as governor of California in his first lead since the good Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003).
The film offers lots of fun as puns on western movie mythology and the lone gunman-cliché abound. It has all the self-irony that the comeback of the now 66 year-old action hero has to have. And which has been a trademark throughout his long, unique career.
The ending of the film has a visual effect, which looks a bit grotesque, but it doesn't change the fact that The Last Stand is a pretty excellent comeback for Arnold and a solid action comedy filled with fun and excitement and a good supporting cast of whom especially Luis Guzmán (Carlito's Way (1993)) and Peter Stormare (The Big Lebowski (1998)) are amusing and effective.

 

Related posts:

Kim Jee-Woon2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
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2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
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2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

I Saw the Devil/악마를 보았다/惡魔를 보았다 (Agmareul boatda) (2010) or, Cat and Mouse - Korean Style 

 




 




Watch a trailer for the movie here


Budget: 45 mil. $
Box office: 48.3 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 1.07 times its cost)

[The Last Stand was released 12 January (Hong Kong, USA) and runs 105 minutes. Schwarzenegger was reportedly paid 5 mil. $ + 25 % of first dollar gross, which, if it pertains to the film's world gross, would mean that it netted him just over 17 mil. $, despite flopping badly. Shooting took place from October 2011 - February 2012 in New Mexico. General Motors reportedly supplied 14 vehicles for the film, getting two of them back in good shape after the shoot. The film opened #9 to a 6.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America where it stalled from then, grossing 12 mil. $ (24.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 7.7 mil. $ (15.9 %) and Japan with 2.8 mil. $ (5.8 %). Kim returned with One Perfect Day (2013, video), The X (2013, short) and theatrically with The Age of Shadows/Mil-jeong (2016). Schwarzenegger returned in Escape Plan (2013); Johnny Knoxville (Nature Calls (2012)) in Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013). The Last Stand is fresh at 61 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Last Stand?

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