The Last Stand **½/4 – a movie review by James Berardinelli
Old action heroes don’t die or fade away; they just keep going.
Once upon a time, being an action star had an expiration date. Now, as long as there’s some acknowledgment of the aging process – a line here, a joke there – it’s viewed as more of an inconvenience than a career-ending condition. As a result, big names from the ’80s and ’90s like Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Willis have thriving action careers two decades past their expected “sell by” dates. Granted, they’re not the surefire box office draws they were in their heydays, but a select group of people (probably those who were teenage boys in the ’80s) still buy tickets to see these guys. And the fascination with AARP-eligible action heroes explains the success of movies like The Expendables (and its sequel) and Red (which is getting a sequel of its own).
Watch the trailer/…
