Homefront

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
   Homefront
Released 11/27/13, now in theaters

Jason Statham returns this Thanksgiving week in the action thriller, Homefront.  The screenplay was written by Statham's Expendables running buddy, Sylvester Stallone.  As a big fan of Statham myself, I was hoping Homefront was at least a return to form for him after the disappointing and achingly boring, Parker, from earlier in the year.

Statham is DEA agent Phil Broker.  As the film begins, he's working deep undercover in a motorcycle gang that is getting its feet wet in the crystal meth trade.  The mission goes sideways (don't they always) and the leader's son is shot down by police. 

Reeling from the experience, Broker resigns from the DEA and lands in his deceased wife's Louisiana hometown to live a quiet life with his young daughter.  Small-town bliss isn't meant to be for the Brokers when an unfortunate chain of events is started by daughter, Maddy.  She dispatches a school bully using fighting skills taught to her by her father.  Matters are made worse when the bully's father and mother confront Phil on the issue and Phil easily takes the father down.  Enraged mother, Cassie (Kate Bosworth), then seeks the aid of her brother, "Gator" Bodine (James Franco), local meth cooker and wanna-be gangster.  First, Gator sends his hired thugs to teach Phil a lesson.  When that quickly goes bad, he breaks into Phil's house and discovers all he needs to know about Phil's past life. 

Gator needs a distribution network for his meth. Who better than the motorcycle gang Phil infiltrated on his last mission?  And, as incentive for the gang to do business with him, he sends his ex-biker roadie girlfriend, Sheryl (Winona Ryder), to broker a deal with the incarcerated leader who has a score to settle with Phil. She'll trade the agent's location in exchange for the gang's distribution of Gator's drugs.

Homefront represents a return to form for a Statham action movie.  This is the good.  The dry wit and fast, blinding fight scenes are back.  And there are few who can deliver a simple line of underlying menace better than Statham.  "Whatever you're thinking, rethink it!", will go down as one of my favorite pieces of dialog in 2013. 

The bad is that Homefront is a bit stagnant when Statham isn't busting heads.  Statham is easily the most watchable character in the film.  Franco does his best "evil hillbilly" impression, but he's just not very scary.

 And someone please tell me why characters in movies act like blithering idiots when there is danger?  You have Phil's daughter who gives him major attitude when he decides the heat in town is just too much after days of fighting off Gator's thugs.  She sees his bruises and cuts.  But now that she thinks she's finally made friends, she doesn't want to go?  How about when the bullets start flying outside of the house?  As Phil is attempting to usher her to the basement to keep her safe, he almost has to physically toss her in as she keeps asking "What's going on?"  Did you not hear the bullets outside young Maddy? 

Like last year's Taken 2, Homefront is made palatable on the strength of its star.  That is, if you're a Statham fan.  It's always good seeing him do what he does best.  But the film is average if you take him away.  It's worth a viewing as a rental, but that's about all.

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

*** stars

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Good viewing. Much better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. Could possibly foot the price of a non-Matinee.
5 *= Pure eye candy. Hall of Fame material here.