HOMEFRONT

year: 2013 cast: Jason Statham, James Franco, Izabela Vidovic, Wionna Ryder rating: **1/2

If it seems strange that tough guy Jason Statham is pitted against the usually not so cinematically tough James Franco, HOMEFRONT isn't entirely what it seems…

With a screenplay written by Sylvester Stallone based on a novel by Chuck Logan, it often feels like a signature Sly flick… From scant, pulpy dialogue to old school shootouts, the movie centers on Statham’s Phil Broker, a hardened ex DEA agent with a soft underbelly for his young daughter Maddy, who he’s left taking care of, alone… After a drug bust gone wrong two years earlier, both are hidden away in a rural small town. On her first day of school, Maddy beats up a bully... Then, during a heated argument, Broker beats up the bully’s dad... At this point all heck (not exactly hell) breaks loose in the gossipy town, where redneck hoods begin questioning his identity, leading to a collection of rushed shaky-cam bouts before meeting our lead antagonist... Although James Franco’s Morgan 'Gator' Bodine is more of a ratty middleman than formidable menace: a meth-dealing, instigative lowlife passing secret info to Broker's hidden enemies… Sadly, Franco's performance not only seems phoned in, he doesn’t have much to do or say...

The best scenes involve Statham fighting the more physically-inclined heavies… Anything beats the corny conversations between Broker and his daughter, who Stallone writes as more of a deep-thinking adult than vulnerable child… Yet she’s the one to ultimately protect as underdeveloped side-characters, including Wionna Ryder as Gator’s druggie girlfriend and Clancy Brown as the local sheriff, square off in a thundering car chase resulting in a predicable conclusion... Then again, for a Jason Statham movie written by his EXPENDABLES mentor, a simplistic testosterone-driven plot can be both expected and forgiven… The real shame is that our tough-as-nails hero didn’t have more of a challenge throughout.

"Ugh, this guy again... Okay, let's finish this for good... Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice..."