Arnold’s “The Last Stand” a Stirring Comeback
A First In Line
Arnold’s “The Last Stand” a Stirring Comeback
By Joe Pietaro
There are some things in life that just seem to go well together. You can name 10 of them right off the bat and an easy argument would be to put Arnold Schwarzenegger and action movies at the very top of that proverbial list.
After a ‘brief’ down period of nearly a decade due to serving as the governor of California, the Austrian Oak makes his comeback as the star of “The Last Stand,” where the 65-year-old portrays an ex-L.A. narc now patrolling a small county as their sheriff. The film opens across the nation on Friday, January 18.
Cameos in both segments of “The Expendables” series may have whetted the appetite of his fans, but they now get to see Schwarzenegger in full force. But of course it wouldn’t be an action film if this New Mexico spot was akin to Mayberry, now would it?
So instead of Schwarzenegger’s Ray Owens character getting to kick his feet up and be semi-retired in his new job, all is upended by the escape of a Mexican drug lord from the feds. Where else would you expect him to use as a passageway back home to safety but right through Owens’s jurisdiction?
No Arnold-style movie would be complete without classic lines, and “The Last Stand” is certainly no exception. But some of them now include Schwarzenegger poking fun at himself and his age, which go over real well in their respective settings.
The fans of yesterday will be more than satisfied and now the new generation that only knew “The Terminator” or “Predator” from DVD will get to see the greatest of all time up there on the big screen.