Homefront

If you don´t like action, and you are not a fan of Jason Statham, you better stop reading now. As an action star, he have really proved himself to be one of the best british fighters on screen, but not only that, he tries to develope his characters into different stories. The Transporter got me hooked up over 12 years ago, and everytime he released a new dvd, i tried to watch, hoping he would deliver once again. I must say i enjoy him most so far in The Expendables, and i am looking forward to see him in the third one this summer. I finally got a chance to see one of his latest motion pictures called Homefront. With a screenplay written by Sylvester Stallone ( he is also one of the producers of Homefront ), and with a great cast of James Franco, Winona Ryder and Kate Bosworth, this looks like a formula that could work. But hold on a second, this is the best part. The director of Homefront is Gary Fleder, who directed one of my all time favourite 90´s movie classics, Things To Do In Denver When You´re Dead. If you have not seen this one, you have too. Especially for Treat Williams, this could be his best performances ever in his career. With so many great names involved, is Homefront an action movie for all of us who love video violence, or is this just another typical Statham motion picture but with nothing to offer ?

DEA agent Phil Broker ( Jason Statham ) move to the countryside with his daughter Maddy Broker ( Izabela Vidovic ). They try to start a new life in small town. One day at Maddy´s school, A bully, Teddy Klum( Austin Craig ) try to beat her up, but since she have learned to defend herself, she brake the nose of Teddy. Phil gets a phone call and is asked to come to school to talk to one of her teachers. Teddy´s mother Cassie Bodine Klum ( Kate Bosworth ) is furious about what Maddy did, and tell her husband Jimmy Klum ( Marcus Hester ) to punsch down Phil, because his daughter hurt their son. Jimmy is injured quickly, and asked to leave Phil and his daughter alone. Cassie is pissed and want someone to take care of Phil, because nobody touch her family. So she go to her brother Morgan " Gator " Bodine ( James Franco ), a drug traffickers leader, so he can take care of Phil. Morgan think this will be easy, even if he find out Phil is a former DEA agent. But once he begin sending out his men, to clean up, all hell breaks loose.

If you were hoping for something original, Homefront is not what you want to see. On the other hand, if you like to see farm boys being beaten up, then you found your place for sure. Remember when Jean-Claude Van Damme tried to do a more serious action movie with Nowhere To Run ? Homefront is a more serious try from Jason Statham, to go out from the extreme violence, and still do action in a different way. Don´t worry though, there are fighting scenes here, but director Gary Fleder tries to lift out a more deeper story between the action sequences. Is Homefront predictable ? Yes, very, but the story is actually not bad, and i do like some of the performances, especially from Kate Bosworth. Jason Statham does what he usually do, look very manly and not afraid of anyone, just the way we want him to be. James Franco may not do one of his better characters, but as Gator he give us a pretty nasty bad guy, that fits the character. The biggest problem with Homefront is that we know exactly what will happen, and i don´t like predictable movies, unless they have somethin else to offer. Thankfully the actors give us enough to hold this together, and i really love the sound effects in the fight scenes. It is almost as if you can feel the punches Statham gives, and that is not easy to do. Fed up with boring romantic comedies, and just want to grab some beers and watch action ? I think Homefront could be what you are looking for. Not one of Jason Statham´s better action movies, but a good try to do something different in his genre.

Rating: DDD