Well movie fans, if light, family-friendly fare isn’t your idea of Thanksgiving fun, you now have another option. Based on the novel by Chuck Logan and a screenplay by Sylvester Stallone (yes, that Sylvester Stallone), Homefront is a dopey, violent b-movie that won’t win any awards, but may provide fans of dopey, violent b-movies with some lowbrow thrills.
Phil Broker (Jason Statham) is an ex-Interpol, ex-DEA agent and widower who moves to a small town in Louisiana to raise his young daughter Maddy (Izabela Vidovic). His grand plans for a quiet life on the bayou disintegrate immediately when Maddy fends off a schoolyard bully to the dismay of the little thug’s drug-addict mother, Cassie (Kate Bosworth). Furious, the woman calls for back-up in the form of her brother, small time methamphetamine dealer Gator Bodine (James Franco) and his girlfriend (Winona Ryder). Less than subtle attempts at intimidation follow, eventually leading to increasingly violent acts.
This town doesn’t sound like the greatest environment to raise a child. Any rational person wouldn’t want to live in a tiny place that clearly doesn’t have a great educational program and is populated by drug dealers, meth addicts and a crooked sheriff. Thankfully, Broker isn’t sensible and we’re treated to some amusingly over-the-top confrontations in which our hero uses various methods to break bones and smash heads in (sometimes even while doing other things, like pumping gas at a filling station). These hand to hand action sequences are fast, well choreographed and impressive, if at times brutal.
The story itself is by-the-numbers and as predictable as can be. In fact, the only unexpected surprise involves a romantic subplot that is introduced and then completely abandoned (obviously, it was snipped out in the editing room). And the Southern stereotypes as presented are pretty ridiculous. At least Stallone’s screenplay and the filmmakers do their best to maximize the tension by milking the verbal threats and cold stares for as long as possible before the brief bursts of force.
Truthfully, it’s the cast that elevate the material above straight-to-video fare. Statham is good, but it’s Franco, Ryder and Bosworth who attack their roles with gusto. Whether Franco is required to kidnap a kitten, mutilate a stuffed animal, tweak on his own supply or face off against the hero, it’s clear that he’s having a good time. The same level of enthusiasm can also be seen on the faces of Ryder and Bosworth and it makes their characters far more interesting and entertaining than expected.
While the actors do their best to ground the film, at its heart this is still a silly tale. Despite the family values on display, it’s filled with ferociously cruel acts that should presumably leave Maddy in post-traumatic shock for the rest of her life. As it stands, Homefront is a standard action picture that is helped tremendously by its stellar cast. It gets the job done, but one wonders how much more it could have been with stronger source material.