New Line Cinema (via iTunes Trailers) has released the trailer for South Korean director Kim Jee-woon’s US debut, and more importantly the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger, in The Last Stand.
Sheriff Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger) moved out of Los Angeles and settled into a life fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town Sommerton Junction. But that peaceful existence is shattered when Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega), the most notorious, wanted drug kingpin in the western hemisphere, makes a deadly yet spectacular escape from a FBI prisoner convoy.
At The Reel Bits, we don’t just post trailers now, we review them too. Check out our thoughts after viewing the trailer below.
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Trailer Talk:
With the exception of cameos in The Expendables and deleted scenes from Legion (both 2010), and the terrible Around the World in 80 Days notwithstanding, it has been a whopping nine years since we saw Arnie in a starring role. This is, of course, due to his featured part as the Governor of California from 2003 to 2011. As such, there is an unbelievable joy in seeing one of the last great action heroes of the 1980s return to the screen for what promises to be an unrelenting piece of explosive cinema.
The joy of this trailer is that it acknowledges not only Schwarzenegger’s age, but his impact on the industry as well. “I’ve seen enough blood and death,” his character tells us. “I know what’s coming”. So do we as cars explode, rocket launchers get fired and general mayhem ensues in a small town, complete with allies Johnny Knoxville, Forrest Whittaker on the phone and the beautiful Jaimie Alexander in her first major action role since Thor. The set-up may be simply and familiar, but you have to play to your strengths for a comeback, right?
South Korean director Kim Jee-woon, having taken the horror world by storm with I Saw the Devil, seems more in A Bittersweet Life or more aptly, The Good, the Bad and The Weird mode, bringing his unique visual style and clear love of American cinema to this hell-for-leather trailer. The bottom line is that we can’t wait to see what this holds.
Bits Rating: ★★★★
