Homefront (15) 100 mins ***
The success of The Expendables has apparently
encouraged Sylvester Stallone to resume the (underrated) screenwriting career
he launched with Rocky. Here, Sly’s
fashioned a role for Jason Statham that he might once have taken himself: that
of Phil Broker, a retired DEA agent whose quiet life in rural Louisiana comes
under threat from expansionist methheads. If it’s initially distracting that
these tweakers are played by slumming Ivy Leaguers (James Franco, Kate
Bosworth), director Gary Fleder – a dab hand with knotty, workable pulp (Kiss the Girls, Runaway Jury) – proves admirably patient in revealing character and
place, and it helps that those laying siege to our hero’s self-timbered abode
never quite react in the way expected of goons in a Jason Statham movie. Back
on comfortable terrain after Hummingbird’s
ambitious misstep, the star has some nice, relaxed moments with onscreen
daughter Izabela Vidovic, and gets to fulfil half his audience’s fantasies in
wiping the smirk from James Franco’s face.
Homefront opens in cinemas nationwide today.
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