The Last Stand 2013

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Slapdash in its character portraits, the movie is slambang in its action scenes; it springs to life whenever it promises death. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: Not the most iconic choice for Schwarzenegger to announce that he's back, but not one that's completely prefab, either. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "The Last Stand" is the movie equivalent of an idiot who, to avoid scorn, starts acting like an even bigger idiot, so as to get in on the joke, too. Read more

Amy Nicholson, Movieline: Just bold enough, brutal enough, and dumb enough to feel like a return to form. Read more

Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: Sorry, big guy, but making small talk with the locals at the diner just isn't you. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The movie isn't about eloquence, it's about giving Mr. Schwarzenegger a chance to take on new enemies that include advancing age. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: Arnie is, as he likes to say, "back." And he keeps lumbering onward - thrashing and bashing about in a movie with an itty-bitty dino-sized brain. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: The film is cheerfully, irresistibly destructive -- an old-fashioned, Rio Bravo shoot-'em-up with the hicktown spirit of Tremors, though it isn't as good as either. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Kim keeps things moving briskly and the members of the strong supporting cast don't seem to mind that they're playing flimsy types. Everyone's just here for a mindless good time. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: The movie's tongue in cheek humor will buy off most of the target audience. And Arnie? He's indestructible. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: For sure, The Last Stand is no Terminator, but it is a fun, if predictable, action-thriller. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: Proceeds to interpret classic Westerns like High Noon and Rio Bravo in the vein of proudly cartoonish violence. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: The weaponry is so ridiculously bountiful that the movie must be a defense against something. But it's just another lousy action movie. And for more than an hour, it's less than that. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Arnold ain't all he used to be but still has a little punch left in this just passable violent action potboiler. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: "The Last Stand" may not herald a full-scale reemergence for Arnold the Action Star, but it's clearly a step in that direction. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Director Jee-woon Kim (I Saw the Devil) handles the action sequences effectively if not spectacularly, though The Last Stand could have dispensed with the occasional attempts at sobriety and cut straight to the chase (or chases). Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "The Last Stand," Arnold Schwarzenegger's first star vehicle in more than a decade, is not a sci-fi film, though it does travel back in time. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Schwarzenegger can still hold the screen, but these days he grinds through his one-liners like a truck driver taking a steep hill ... Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: [Kim] can't disguise the fact that Schwarzenegger, playing this seen-enough sheriff, doesn't so much look world-weary as simply tired. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, NPR: By the end, even Schwarzenegger looks worn out. Maybe being governor wasn't such a hard job after all. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The script is a mess, built on lazy cliches, stilted jokes and easy payoffs. What the movie does have, though, is enthusiasm. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: [It] just seems to want to gin up a lot of high-fiving for a lot of shooting, and right now is the least palatable time I can think of for that. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Almost certainly, The Last Stand will not be Schwarzenegger's last. For better or for worse (and this is somewhere right in the middle), he is back. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The humor keeps it from becoming completely generic but there's still nothing of particular interest here. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: To call "The Last Stand" gratuitously violent is to pay the movie a compliment. It's sort of the whole point. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: To call this a good movie is really a stretch; it's more like 38 percent of a good movie. But it probably has just enough dumb fun and pointless violence and car chases to seem like a highly viable option for large numbers of people this weekend. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: An unpretentious, invigorating action flick that's extra-enjoyable whenever Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the screen demonstrating his flair for self-parody. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "The Last Stand" is such a false start, it could terminate Schwarzenegger's comeback before it begins. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Dig just a shade beneath the surface, trade in the text for the subtext, and a more interesting picture emerges - a little richer, sadder, almost poignant. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The hilarity is muted by the really excessive amount of violence. People don't just die in The Last Stand, they explode like blood bombs. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Even by the big, loud standards of a big, loud Schwarzenegger movie, The Last Stand feels like a succession of pitches that never amount to a script. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: The result is diverting enough for a low-expectations Friday night, but the ingredients were in place for something more. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Schwarzenegger, when he's not plowing his way through reams of semi-intelligible dialogue, proves he's still capable of firing off a few rounds and pulling broken glass out of his leg. Read more

Scott Foundas, Village Voice: [It] does exactly what it should: It leaves us wanting more. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: It persistently tries to drag the audience down to its mindless level. Read more