The Last Stand (Kim Jee-woon)

[Stay Puft]

THE LAST STAND
Director: Kim Jee-woon

IMDb page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1549920/?ref_=sr_1)

http://i.imgur.com/MZzxTYO.jpg

[Kiusagi]

Well, I liked it. Doesn't have much meaning, but I found it very entertaining. Shooting scenes very well staged. I liked how even though it's more or less the Arnold Show, they gave the whole supporting cast just enough time to shine so that you'll remember who they are.

[Pop Trash]

I still want to see this. Pity it did so terrible at the box office.

[number8]

I'll give it a reluctant yay. The first half of the movie (an overly protracted setup to "the last stand" that would've been better condensed into 30 minutes) is terrible, though.

Zach Gilford's presence was just weird. He was far and away the best actor on the entire cast and because he played his character so sincerely, he seemed like he wandered in from an entirely different movie when he's interacting with the others.

The yay is mostly for being the only Arnie movie I can remember that actually addresses his accent.

[Li Lili]

Well, I'll probably see it only because it's Kim Jee woon's film, but still....

[EvilShoe]

Zach Gilford's in this? Now I definitely have to watch this.

(In a better world he'd be headlining interesting dramas at this point. Oh well.)

[number8]

There's also a bizarre cameo by Harry Dean Stanton.

[Dukefrukem]

There's also a bizarre cameo by Harry Dean Stanton.

His cameos are getting really annoying.

[Dukefrukem]

BUt 8's right. The first 30 minutes, the back-story catch-up filler montage is really awful. This just doesn't feel like Jee-woon Kim movie. The pacing is slow, which may be intentional given all the Arnold-is-old-jokes, and there are only one great tracking shot even though I was expecting this movie to be filled with them based on what I've seen with I Saw the Devil and TGTBTW. Johnny Knoxville has not gotten any better at acting and he was a pretty big distraction even though I want to believe that telephone pole scene was real. Tentative YAY, I need a second viewing.

[Rowland]

I need a second viewing.That doesn't read like the logical conclusion to all of your preceding thoughts.

[Dukefrukem]

That doesn't read like the logical conclusion to all of your preceding thoughts.

Your'e right... but it's hard for me to accept when a director I like puts out a film below when he's capable of.

[eternity]

A poorly timed (or possibly really well timed?) right-wing fantasy flick about how the federal government is incompetent and that it's a good thing for small town America to hoard warehouses full of guns, you know, to defend themselves.

[Rowland]

A terribly stilted Arnold performance does the bland script and wonky pacing no favors, while the direction has some style but rarely transcends passable, and again with the teals and oranges! Minor spikes of eccentricity suggest Kim's imprint, but hardly enough so to give the film much flavor. Remember how John Woo, Ringo Lam, and Tsui Hark all inexplicably used Van Damme action films as their tickets into Hollywood back in the '90s?

Knock Off > Double Team > Hard Target > Maximum Risk > Replicant > The Last Stand

This IS better than Lam's third collaboration with Van Damme, the DTV (and appropriately titled) In Hell. But not by that much.

[Morris Schæffer]

Hour 1 is legitimately great, with kinetic & coherent direction, hard-hitting violence & a surprising amount of palpable tension (the
roadblock!). Sadly, the titular showdown, sporting too much Knoxville, firepower-toting grannies, a stubborn refusal to kill off characters & a climactic scrap atop an obviously CGI'd bridge, doesn't fully deliver. Still, the cornfield chase was rad, the movie generally lotso fun.

**½ / 4

edit: heh, funny how everyone thinks the first half is the worst, or bad.

[number8]

This is about what we all expected right?


At a Seoul press conference this week, Mr. Kim described the experience as “lonely,” “difficult” and “controlled.”


He said he could write a book about all the challenges he faced trying to finish his movie. For one, the strict rules when it comes to lunchtime.

“There comes a point when shooting a scene, you rehearse and the mood heats up for the actors and the staff, and it feels like we’re on the verge of getting just [the right shot]. Then everything gets cut off because it’s lunch,” he said. “[I] can’t describe in words how cold my appetite for creativity gets then.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2013/02/15/for-last-stand-director-a-tough-hollywood-debut/

[Morris Schæffer]

Only from the mid-part of the movie was he able to start adding ideas and style, the director said

I'd like to know what are the Kim-isms to look for in that second half.

[Dukefrukem]

I'd like to know what are the Kim-isms to look for in that second half.

They're easy to spot. 2:03 and 2:05 scenes in this trailer (taking out the SUVs and falling off the building). The tracking shots were great.

http://youtu.be/oc0x-jiewTE?t=2m3s

[Irish]

This is about what we all expected right?

Unfortunately, yeah. He should have called up John Woo, Tsui Hark, and Chow Yun Fat about making films in America.

We need to stop scaring these guys away. :(

[Rowland]

Tsui HarkOf course in Hark's (or would that be Tsui's?) case, he took his second Hollywood production (Knock Off) back to his home country and basically made his own kind of film, and it still bombed miserably, both financially and critically, which is a shame because it's kinda great in its insane way.

[transmogrifier]

This wasn't very good. In fact, it's easily the director's worst film, and I barely tolerate a couple of them.

[Spun Lepton]

I was bored at about 30 minutes in and with another 90 minutes to go, I decided to pass. What a disappointment.

[Skitch]

Mild yay. A fun time waster.

[Grouchy]

Disappointing, pretty much for the reasons everyone else already said. The first half is a complete bore, developing uninteresting characters and trying frantically for a comedic tone that just isn't there. Luis Guzmán, along with most of the big names in the cast, was completely wasted. The second half actually features some kick-ass action scenes so that's good, but it's too little too late. Also the pro-guns, "Support Your Local Sheriff" agenda of the film is too blatant and distracting. I also found myself wishing Peter Stormare was the main bad guy instead of Noriega.


The yay is mostly for being the only Arnie movie I can remember that actually addresses his accent.
I don't remember this.

[number8]

"You make immigrants like me look bad."

[Henry Gale]

It is what it is, and it's the sort of actioner that was probably realized every other week in 1996, but considering how rare it feels now, and how confidently, requisitely made it is, it's entertaining.

Not the sort of thing I can praise highly, but it's not a movie that aims all that high either, and somehow there's nothing wrong, especially with how content and economical it is with that attitude.

Forest Whitaker's character is one of the most hilariously inept cops I've ever seen in a serious movie, though.

[Skitch]

The yay is mostly for being the only Arnie movie I can remember that actually addresses his accent.

You are gifted with coming up with these wonderful points that I never considered. That is...awesome.

[Irish]

Yay for Arnold's return to movies. Nay for most everything else.

The opening hour was marginally interesting. At least they had some small character moments and some decent little set pieces. The final act was terribly fucking boring, and pretty much peaked with a shot of Luis Guzman running down the street screaming while firing a tommy gun. (I actually fast forwarded during the final fight. I didn't really need to see some weak villain punch around a 65 year old man and his stunt double.)

Thought some of the humor was too broad, especially as there's a lot of violence. (Knoxville's character in particular seems like a refugee from a high camp version of "The A Team").

Didn't see this as some right wing fantasy, but as a callback to a certain kind of Western, like "3:10 to Yuma" and "High Noon" and "Rio Bravo." I liked what it was trying to do but I don't think it got all the way there.

Two things: Nobody thinks to call the Mexican cops and have them waiting on the other side of the bridge?

And nobody across 2 states and the federal government thinks to throw down spikes on the highway? The entire movie could have been over in like 20 minutes. WTF?

[MadMan]

I thought this was a great deal of fun, and is one of the better Arnold films in well, forever. The supporting cast mostly did a good job too, although I didn't care for the villain all that much. I laughed at the humor, and once the movie got going it was a pretty entertaining film. This film was indeed a 90s throwback, but there were plenty of 80s involved to, which is probably why I liked it a lot.

[Spun Lepton]

Just barely squeaks by with a Yay. A lot of the build-up is plodding and cliche. Arnold has never been the strongest actor, but he's obviously out of practice, half of his lines are delivered with little to no energy. His fake tan looks terrible and every time I noticed it -- frequently -- I was pulled out of the movie. Thankfully, the supporting cast picks up some of the slack. The action at the end is fun and sometimes inspired, even though it's tough to believe Arnold would be able to take the antagonist so well in a fist fight. 5/10

[Peng]

Amiable local town hang-out vibe battles it out with the extremely lame FBI crime stuff for more than half the film, but the convergence of both storylines does both parts good. The film is really (and barely) saved by its climatic showdown, where Kim Jee-woon’s presence is felt in gleefully orchestrated mayhem and over-the-top violence. By the time Schwarzenegger tackles a guy off a building’s roof while also shoots him in the head when they are in mid-air together, I finally surrender to its throwback charm. 6/10