Homefront (2013) Jason Statham, James Franco, Izabela Vidovic, Kate Bosworth Movie Review

Homefront (2013)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Jason Statham in Homefront (2013)

You Don't Mess With the Statham

Following an undercover mission going horribly wrong with the gang leader's son brutally gunned down by other agents, widower Phil Broker (Jason Statham) retired from the DEA and with his 9 year old daughter Maddy (Izabela Vidovic) move to a back water town for a quiet life. When Maddy ends up giving a school bully a quick dose of his own medicine it opens a whole can of worms as the boy's mother is Cassie Bodine Klum (Kate Bosworth) whose brother is local meth drug lord Gator Bodine (James Franco) who says he will scare Broker off for her. When Gator discovers who Broker was he decides to offer him up as a gift to the gang leader whose son was the cause of Broker's retirement. But Broker isn't a man you mess with who not only won't be intimidated but will do anything to protect his daughter.

Do you remember those old westerns where the gun slinger decides he wants to hang up his guns and retire somewhere quietly only to have to deal with his past coming back to haunt him? Well "Homefront", which is based on Sylvester Stallone's screenplay, is a variation on this with instead of a bad guy dealing with his past we get a retired agent having to deal with a low life who wants revenge. But it isn't that simple as to try and add more variations to this we have a kid and the convoluted way that things get back to the bad guy who want the retired agent dead.

James Franco in Homefront (2013)

The thing is that whilst there are these variations "Homefront" is still that simple storyline and is all about the action with Jason Statham being the hero father who will do anything to protect his daughter. And what is so good about "Homefront" starring Jason Statham is that he delivers the action, those blocks and punches as well as head smashes in such a quick fashion that it never grows boring. It is hard to describe why Statham is so effective as a growling hardman but when you compare him to any other hard man actor who could have starred in this you can see the difference, the no messing attitude with a touch of sensitivity and a lack of over the top cheesy lines.

Of course "Homefront" doesn't just star Jason Statham there is a lot of familiar faces including James Franco in bad guy mode, Clancy Brown in cop mode and Rachelle Lefevre being the perfect woman for Statham's character to find new happiness with. The thing is that whilst there are many familiar names and faces in "Homefront" none of them really put in big performances yet at the same time none of them put in bad performances.

What this all boils down to is that "Homefront" is a solid and entertaining take on the retiring hardman having to fight various bad guys who are out for revenge whilst protecting his family. It isn't anything new but with Jason Statham in strong action man form it is entertaining


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