The Last Stand - B-

Rated R, 107 minutes

Typical, but fun Schwarzenegger fluff in "The Last Stand"

If you have an issue with gun control, then the new Arnold Schwarzenegger film "The Last Stand" will not be for you. Featuring Schwarzenegger in his first starring role since the "Terminator 3" nearly 10 years ago, it's silly, contrived and much more violent than it needs to be, but it doesn't have any heady messages except to entertain, which it does often. In other words, it's a typical above-average Schwarzenegger film. In "The Last Stand," Schwarzenegger is a small-town Arizona sheriff who happens to find himself and his town in the center of a large FBI manhunt of an escaped drug cartel leader Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) trying to get back to Mexico. With the help of his deputies (Luiz Guzman, Zach Gilford, Jaimie Alexander, Rodrigo Santoro and Johnny Knoxville) and under the eye of the lead FBI agent (Forest Whitaker), it's up to them to stop Cortez with whatever means possible. Preposterous for sure, "The Last Stand" is forgettable but enjoyable entertainment that doesn't let predictability and a video-game shoot-and-run sensibility get in the way. It helps that "Stand" is helmed by noted South Korean director Kim Ji-woon ("A Tale of Two Sisters"), an unconventional choice for something like this, but Ji-woon keeps the pace of the film moving, and while it seems like typical action fluff, it won't disappoint Schwarzenegger's fan base. There's loads of guns and violence, so if that's something you have an issue with, you may not want to see it, but most may not care. The real star of "The Last Stand" may be the souped-up 2001 Corvette used in the film which run exceedingly fast. If you've seen any of Schwarzenegger's other films, you've seen "The Last Stand" too, but it's worth seeing if you want to welcome a movie icon back to the big screen.

Wes's Grade: B-