It seems Arnold has chosen to make a quiet return to films. Although he was in 'The Expendables 2', this is his first leading role. The plot is fairly typical action film plot. A plot that is done on the cheap. There is nothing special as far as the plot goes. You have a small town sheriff who decides to stop a criminal on his own. The characters are nothing special and are quite clichéd. You pretty much know where the film is going and what each of the characters is going to do. The action though is quite exciting and the final 'last stand' is quite good and lots of fun. One other problem I had was the tone of the film. Director Jee-woon Kim can't seem to decide successfully if the film should be serious or funny. While there are a few amusing moments a few of them felt out of place and did not suit the film.
Arnold is not famous for being a really gifted actor. is whole routine is killing people and saying one liners. Which he does with great delight here. He does have a great deal of charisma which I think goes a long way towards making this film entertaining. Forest Whitaker seems to been one of those Oscar winners whose career went down rather than up. He is serviceable here as the FBI agent after the criminal Arnie runs into. As the criminal or bad guy Eduardo Noriega does not make much of a presence. Granted he spends the whole time driving in a car so that does not give him much room to express his evil. I think Johnny Knoxville was miscast. He is more suited to all out comedy rather than this semi-serious type of film.
Arnold returns to movies with more of a whimper than with a bang. as long as you do not expect too much then you might get some enjoyment out of this film.
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