Cinematic Releases: Homefront

on
Jason Statham protects his little girl from James Franco in Homefront


"Please, daddy!! Save me.
That Alien guy from Spring
Breakers wants to
kill me"
After the fun that was had with the last Rambo film and Escape Plan, it was almost guaranteed that Stallone could score another minor return to form with his latest turn at writing an action film. Well, the good times are already over. Homefront is another desperate attempt at recreating the same type of action we loved thirty years ago. Every miserable genre cliche and eighties plot device returns with a vengeance but this time with a top notch cast that is completely out of place. If someone could please explain to me what James Franco, Winona Ryder and Clancy Brown are doing here, I'd really appreciate it.

Not only is Homefront bad, it's a distinctly horrendous mix of everything we've seen before. This is Nowhere To Run (Van Damme), Commando (Schwarzenegger) and the absolute worst of Stallone's career all rolled in to one tedious package that is one of the most boring, drawn out, and predictable action films in Statham's illustrious career of box office stinkers. Yes, he's made a few good movies here and there. But, Homefront is an atrocity of sorts that even die hard action junkies will have a hard time staying awake through. Not even Franco and Winona Ryder could save this heartless tripe. And who is this little girl doing her best 8 year old Alyssa Milano impersonation?

"What the hell am I doing
in this movie? Listen, kids.
A life of crime doesn't
pay."
Let's admit it. Most action films rely on three things: a charismatic hero, an unrelenting villain, and over the top fight sequences/gun play. Homefront is mostly void of all three. We get Statham doing his a-typical smart ass with the skills to kill a man with the flick of a wrist. Then we get James Franco as our main villain? Wait a second. I can't take this seriously. To top it off, audiences are given less than twenty minutes of action in a film that is quite obviously a modern tribute to the movies that used to make this an enjoyable genre. Rant over.

Obviously Stallone can't face the facts. The eighties are done. We need something new, something original. We're not the same audience we were years ago. How often are we going to return to the poisoned well for another giant gulp of predictable nonsense? I think you get it by now. Homefront is terrible.

-Review by Chris George