Review: ‘Homefront’

“Homefront” is a fairly simple movie, based on a 2006 crime novel designed to be a page-turner, and it harkens back to the simpler action movies of the 1980s and 1990s. No wonder, considering the novel was adapted for the screen by 80s/90s action super star Sylvester Stallone, who then handed the project off to the guy who directed “Runaway Jury.” Maybe Sly had confidence in his book-to-movie capabilities?

Anyway, directed by that guy, written by Stallone, and starring Jason Statham, because he’s our main action movie guy now, isn’t he? It’s him or Dwayne Johnson, and The Rock has been pretty busy lately. So we got good ole reliable Statham, and it’s actually kind of a wonder this movie didn’t go straight to Redbox like most of his movies seemingly do these days. Must be that Stallone power. The real twist of this movie, though, is the casting of James Franco as one of the movie’s main bad guys, a backwoods meth dealer named Gator Bodine. And there’s a scene in which Franco introduces himself, and you can see the way he relishes spitting that name out.

So with Franco we got a bad guy that is a little unconventional because of how he brings in some extra thoughtfulness and humanity to a character that was surely originally just 100% bad guy for no good reason, and with Statham we get reliable action heroics and bad ass moments, we all know Statham is an ass kicker. And the movie itself ends up being pretty reliable and sort of by-the-numbers, as there isn’t much that really comes across as surprising or unpredictable. Except for maybe when Winona Ryder shows up as a “meth whore,” that was a little surprising.

Actually, this whole movie is cast quite well, with people all more than capable of what is asked of them in this movie, which isn’t too much when it’s all said and done. The story is simple, a school yard fight quickly turns into a spat between neighbors which quickly turns into Statham’s character Phil Broker having an unfortunate shitstorm of violence visit upon him in this tiny little town.

Now on that note, this movie does do two things that I rather enjoy in action movies. The first is the whole concept of the quiet bad ass guy who just wants to be left alone, go about his day, Incredible Hulk type of shit, right? And some idiots try to mess with him, and they have no idea what they are in for, not like us the audience. We saw this character get into a crazy gun fight and car chase against an insane biker gang, so we know these redneck yokels are gonna get theirs asses handed to them (spoiler: they do). So that happens and that’s awesome.

The other thing that happens is when someone gets in a fist fight with our hero, and then decides to pull out a knife to turn things in his favor, but then the hero just takes that knife and sticks the guy with it. Never bring a knife to a fist fight against a guy who looks like Jason Statham. Because chances are that it is Jason Statham and he will stick you with your own knife. Double shame points if the knife is still in your hand when you get stabbed with it. Cause that shit is hilarious.

Here is a great example of what I am talking about. Never attach Steven Seagal with a meat cleaver, unless you want to stick it in your own thigh.

In checking the interwebs, it does appear that most people are kind of shitting on this movie for it being generic and adding nothing new to the genre of awesome guy hiding out with his daughter but being pushed to violence by the crazy locals, but I don’t know why there always needs to be something new and different each time out. This thing is perfectly enjoyable, it’s not going to change the way you look at the world, but it is entertaining and also kind of interesting. Statham plays a character is much more humble and quieter than normal and much more interested in resolving things in a non-violent way, but that doesn’t mean he won’t crush you with a giant boat battery if he’s forced to do so.

“Homefront” is really not a bad movie at all (put THAT on the DVD cover!). Maybe not the type of movie you’d rush out to go see in a theater, but if you get the chance to check it out, you’ll find it will definitely do the trick.