“Homefront” is a movie for Jason Statham fans. It does
nothing surprising or remarkable, moves briskly and generates a moderate level
of suspense. It includes the requisite number of fights and shootouts and finds
time for a car chase. The child in danger aspect of the story is a bit
manipulative, but you know she isn’t going to get hurt, just as her cat
survives its ordeal. And Statham is suitably heroic, for all his steely eyes
and ability to shake off pain and James Franco as the bad guy is appropriately
menacing. The most appealing performance, however, comes from young Izabela
Vidovic, who plays Statham’s character’s daughter. Although she isn’t given
much opportunity to develop her character, she is likeable.
The movie opens with a stock situation: an
ex-military/ex-cop, Phil Broker (Statham), recently widowed and with a
10-year-old daughter, Maddy (Vidovic), relocates to rural Louisiana to start
anew. He immediately runs into trouble with some aggressive locals, including
the bitchy mother (Kate Bosworth) of a local bully. She asks her brother, Gator
(Franco), a meth cooker, to ‘scare’ Phil, which sets off an unfortunate chain
of events. Gater’s sleazy biker girlfriend, Sheryl (Winona Ryder), makes
contact with a drug kingpin Phil put behind bars and he orders a hit. All hell
breaks loose when the goons come for Phil and his daughter. If you’re an action
movie junkie, if you’re a Jason Statham fan, you’ll enjoy this paint-by-numbers
screenplay and directing by Gary Fleder. Nov. 27, 2013
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