First impressions: Arnold Schwarzenegger. That is all.
Actually, for the sake of this review being longer, I’ll explain myself. I grew up when Arnold was at his peak (…if you can call it that) with T2, Jingle All the Way and Kindergarten Cop. From the first time I saw the trailer for this movie, I knew I had to see it in order to satisfy the ‘cheesy nostalgia’ void that was all of a sudden created.
Obviously this wasn’t a movie I was going to see in theaters, so yes, I did watch this movie a couple months after its release date. It was always on the list though, so I knew I’d watch it one day. Today was that day, and here’s why:
My movie-mood: mindless, comedy, action.
The movies tagline: Not in his town. Not on his watch.
Outcome: check, check, and check.
Was it good? Surprisingly yes! I was so ready to tear this movie apart, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I have no problems saying that I was highly entertained. Does that make it a good movie? Well, no; it had its flaws. But for what I wanted and expected, it delivered. With regards to my movie-mood, I was 3 for 3. What more could I ask for!
I got a movie with a decent plot, and a big enough budget to pull it off. I can’t explain why I needed to mention the budget part, but something about the movie made it noticeable that the plot was held together because of the budget. Sorry if that doesn’t make sense, but there’s something there I can’t quite put my finger on, let alone explain.
When it comes to the acting, Arnold was as good as I remember (keeping in mind I was 10ish-years-old when I saw the previously mentioned movies). The only other person I knew was Johnny Knoxville, and I can’t say I get why his name is on the poster. There were other actors that had more screen time and had bigger roles in the movie. Speaking of which, I think Jaimie Alexander (as Sarah), Zach Gilford (as Jerry) and Luis Guzman (as Mike) all did a really good job with their roles. I thought there was a good blend of characters that made up the police force. The actors complimented one another, so that was a nice bonus. I didn’t know Forest Whitaker was in this movie, but he fit in very well as a FBI agent.
I’m not going to say that the script dragged this movie down, because it didn’t. The script for this movie pretty much existed because it would be awkward to have everyone on screen without dialogue. With that being said, I will admit this movie did have a few good one-liners that I liked*. Was the screenplay the highlight of this movie? Absolutely not. Did it work? Ya.
Overall, I got exactly what I wanted from it. Decent plot, good acting, okay script and nice camera angles. It is a movie you can have fun with. It even pokes fun at itself too! If you’re in the mood for a popcorn flick like I was, I think you’d enjoy it just as much. Definitely a throwback to Arnold's old movies.
*Some of the lines I liked (***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***)
Irv: How are you Sheriff?
Sheriff Owens: Old.
Sheriff Owens: You make us immigrants look bad.
Cortez: You fucked up my car.
Sheriff Owens: You fucked up my day off.
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