In 2006, Sylvester Stallone bid farewell to his most famous
character in Rocky Balboa. The
Italian Stallion donned the boxing gloves once more for a comeback match
against a young upstart. In 2008, Stallone dusted the mothballs off another iconic
character, the haunted Vietnam vet John Rambo. In the simply titled Rambo, Stallone rescued missionaries
from the military junta in Burma. While Stallone has closed the door on Rocky,
he left the possibility open for another Rambo adventure. At one point, he
purchased the rights to Chuck Logan's novel Homefront
as a possible vehicle to direct, star, and produce. There was even talk that it
might be rewritten into a fifth Rambo flick. Instead, Homefront has become a vehicle for Stallone's fellow Expendable
Jason Statham.
Statham is Phil Broker, an undercover DEA agent whose final
mission ended in bloodshed and led to the arrest of Danny T (Chuck Zito), the
leader of a drug running biker gang. Broker has decided to live the quiet life
by moving to a small town in the Louisiana with his daughter Maddy (Izabela
Vidovic). He's got horses, plenty of fresh air, and the pretty school teacher
(Rachelle Lefevre) seems to take a liking to him. All that changes when Maddy
gets into a scuffle with playground bully. This sets off a chain of disastrous
events as the boy's drug-addled mother, Cassie (Kate Bosworth), demands
retribution. Just so happens her brother, Gator Bodine (James Franco), is one
bad dude. He cooks meth and everyone in town knows to stay away from him. When
Gator learns of Broker's former line of work, he ropes in his girlfriend Sheryl
(Winona Ryder) to set up a hit and get into Danny T's good graces.
Homefront doesn't
off anything anyone hasn't seen before in a Jason Statham action movie. Although,
there is one unintentionally funny scene in which the British bruiser tries to
affect an American accent. Statham isn't afraid to unleash righteous fury when
the bad guys push him around. However, he's not intentionally looking for
trouble. You kind of wish he did. A few
scenes where Statham goes Buford Pusser on some sleazy swamp folk may have
livened things up. There's just enough action in Homefront to keep your attention, just not enough to bring you to
the edge of your seat. Director Gary Fleder, who previously helmed Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
and Runaway Jury, isn't known as an
action director, but he handles the set pieces well, particularly one where
Statham fights several henchmen with his hands zip tied behind his back. The
script by Stallone is exactly the type of B-movie fare he and peers like Steven
Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme traded in during the 80's.
What does set Homefront
apart is the bold decision to cast against type for the antagonists with the
exception of Frank Grillo as a hired assassin. California surfer girl Kate
Bosworth is turned into a weary looking meth addict while Winona Ryder
struggles to convince as an opportunistic biker groupie. James Franco certainly
would not have been an obvious choice to play the lead villain though he is the
most interesting. Franco's eclectic tastes were on full display in 2013. He played
a young Wizard of Oz in Oz: The Great and
Powerful, appeared in a cameo as Hugh Hefner in Lovelace, directed and starred in the docudrama Interior. Leather Bar, and won acclaim
for his outlandish performance in Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers. Franco doesn't ham it up as Gator. He does relish
in being a baddie, but he's not completely amoral. Once the truly ruthless
killers arrive, Gator discovers he's just a little fish in a swamp full of
crocs.
Homefront isn't a
wholly satisfying experience due to a cookie cutter script that was cobbled
together after a binge watching Sons of
Anarchy and Breaking Bad. Still,
if your standards aren't too demanding, Homefront
winds up being a fun and disposable action pic.
Rating: ** (*****)
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