Homefront (2013)

What a beautiful movie!

Too many fans seem to be blown away

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

With every film I watch of his, my admiration for him heightens to explosive levels. His commitment to the stunt work, the cheesy one liners, the mediocre American accent. He negates the critics and just does what he does best, being Jason Statham. Homefront is no different, but he has much better support. Having recently moved to a new town, a father and his daughter are embroiled in a feud with another family that soon escalates into a murderous plan for drug distribution. Bearing in mind this a screenplay adapted by Sylvester Stallone (who is no Shakespeare) and directed by Gary Fleder (yeah, me neither...), it's a damn enjoyable action drama. Illustrating the affection and protectiveness between father and daughter, shrouding these two strangers in a small community and portraying the lust for money and success from a crazed lunatic who is willing to shoot his own relatives and flee the scene. This isn't a Statham film where he is invincible, jumping out skyscraper windows landing on his feet with barely a scratch on him. No, he is actually human. A father just trying to move on with his life and avoid trouble. But alas, trouble always finds him, and so Statham does what Statham does best: annihilate the enemy. The violence is pretty damn edgy, where every punch, kick and gun shot feels surprisingly real. I've never seen so many head smashes into car windows in a film, however the result is strangely captivating. It's gritty, visceral and energetic action which I'm sure everyone wanted to see. Statham is well supported by Franco, Ryder and Bosworth who all play unlikable yet realistic characters. They are not completely one-dimensional, more like...one and a half dimensions? Franco needs to be an antagonist in more films, he can be rather intimidating. Granted, the script isn't exactly special and does become more absurd as the film comes to its conclusion. The excessive quick cuts also made for disorientating action, however I had a good time. I knew what I wanted, and I got it. Statham satisfaction at its finest.

Though this is an action film, it is not a nonstop action film like "Safe", for example. In "Homefront", Jason Statham plays an ex-DEA agent who retires to a small town with plans of raising his daughter in a more pastoral setting. He's a quiet hero with a libertarian outlook on life: He just wants to be left alone to live in peace. And he won't initiate force but he will defend himself.The role is reminiscent of many others who came before, like Carradine in the television show "Kung Fu", or "Billy Jack". A little like Jack Reacher. He's a long-suffering pacifist who knows how to seriously kick butt, if forced to.Statham is solid in his role, even when relating to the daughter character, wonderfully played by Izabela Vidovic. This is critical to the film's success.James Franco plays the villain, a local badass who makes the mistake of injecting himself into the placid lives of Statham and his daughter. Kate Bosworth as Franco's sister delivers a strong performance.

This was okay as far as action movies go, its the cast that really makes it worth a watch. Some surprising faces here you wouldn't expect to see in a movie about meth dealers, really giving their all to the roles including James F-bombin Franco as the films villain, -he is excellent, Winona Ryder as a biker chick, also great and a scary skinny Kate Bosworth as a tweaked out mother who puts this whole story in motion. She is a piece of work in this, instantly hateable.The screenplay was written by Sylvester Stallone (based on a book) and was apparently going to be a vehicle for the Rambo franchise, which makes so much sense once you start watching this. Story goes that Stallone got too old for the role and passed it over to Statham.He plays a former DEA agent who takes his daughter Kit to the quiet town where his (now deceased) wife grew up to start over again after his latest (undercover) drug bust goes very wrong. He soon gets on the wrong side of the local meth drug-lord who in turn sells out his identity to a biker gang. Everyone comes after him, so that we get a couple of big action showdowns one with Frank Grillo and the other with F'n James Franco (His character swears a ton in this) This movie was definitely entertaining, thrilling at times but honestly nothing all that special or remarkable in that respect or in terms of story either. Jason Statham is continuing to change as a an actor taking on more human roles, he is believable here as the doting dad even if you have to ignore his British accent that creeps in from time to time and his action/fight scenes are as always exciting. 4/26/16

Just to balance the low rates from film snobs, this movie was 100% awesome. I like film, attend film festivals, travel but by no means consider myself a film expert- just a normal Cali girl who haven't seen much Jason Statham. But, he is crazy sexy and I liked the action- not normally my thing and Winona Ryder was great! Had no idea Stallone wrote other than seeing him hang at The Rainbow Bar- so impressed!! Kinda cool plot because I know an agent who relocated to Maui, had to change it up. Tortured soul from heavy underground work. Loved how James Franco Performed. And, he adopts the black cats in this film! Love! New Jason fan and action film fan! I know men like him are like UNICORNS- it's a role and they don't exist but my lord! Wow! Those eyes!