Verdict:
Arnold is definitely back from his political adventures, but it’s not the same Arnold anymore. You can tell that he got older and rustier, not just during the action scenes, but from the 1st second he shows up on screen until the end of the movie. The voice has less power; the look is tired; the speech is more confused; the whole performance is flatter.
The story, it seems, was made specifically for him: an old cop with an active past has been living the quiet life but fate calls him back into action. And yet Arnold does not quite fit into this role. Perhaps this is because the 1st half of the action is devoted to the other characters and Arnold is in too many calm scenes. He is not meant to hang around a calm scene for any longer than a few seconds, lest his lack of acting skill starts becoming apparent.
It is not that the guy is not interesting at all, but there is a lack of energy around Arnold which makes you considerably more interested in some of the side characters. Johnny Knoxville shows up and, although he plays the usual oddball character he’s played before, he is refreshing, energetic and steals your attention when he is on screen. He makes for a good comic relief character.
The bad guys in particular are given a lot of power, style and screen time to show off both. Even though some of them don’t speak or occupy the screen for long, they do not feel like faceless henchmen and are given different outfits, styles and distinguishable behaviour. The lead bad guy is played by Eduardo Noriega, who wears his slick Latin suit very well. He is not particularly memorable, we do not get that much backstory for him, and he may not win the “villain of the year” award, but for most of the movie, this guy is in control of the situation, while driving in a fast car with a hot woman on his side. If this was a computer game, you’d want to play this character and not Arnold’s character.
Forest Whitaker is here as an FBI agent but he takes a background role. When he is having his quiet moments, he sounds boring and when he is supposed to be aggressive, he sounds fake. Maybe he just had a bad day on set.
The Last Stand is not a bad action movie. If you like silly action movies and have nothing else in mind, this will tickle your brain for a little while. It just feels so…local. It feels like a warmup for another better movie with a bigger impact. I reckon that, after a couple of years, not many people will remember that this movie exists.