Review of Homefront (2013) by Harry W — 27 Apr 2014

Although not one of the more typically favoured Jason Statham films, since it starred Winona Ryder and was written by Sylvester Stallone, Homefront sounded worth a shot.

I didn't expect that Homefront would introduce anything new to the series, but in a world where action films are going into a rapid decline in quality there are few people you can trust anymore to make good action films. And considering that the material has been penned by Sylvester Stallone and has Jason Satham in the lead role, it sounded promising as a formulaic action film.

Many action films have the flaw of going overkill with the action while ignoring a sensible plot, while others do the opposite and are too focused on the plot to remember to implement a good quantity of action scenes in. Homefront presents potential in its intro but falls into the latter fairly fast. While the intro scene in Homefront is good because it shows the strong action that director Gary Fleder has a keen eye for, after that there is no real action for an extended period of time. Instead, Homefront attempts to increase its legitimacy by spending time building up a sufficient plot, but the plot isn't what audiences are likely to find themselves watching Homefront in favour of. While its story isn't too bad, one of the flaws is that a lot of the dynamics happen as a result of a young girl standing up to a bully at primary school. I've seen that little event happen to many times on film to know that it isn't realistic, and from there all of the story elements begin to unfold as a result. It seems as if Sylvester Stallone wrote Homefront in similar vein to the poem which links the want of a nail to the loss of war which reflects the consequences of small actions. But all because of a little girl standing up to a poorly raised child is a little ridiculous. And while all this is happening, there is little action to boast about. This wouldn't bother me if Homefront wasn't promoted as an action thriller and didn't have a formulaic action movie opening scene, but since that is the case there are some things about the film which prove rather misleading. This particularly bothers me because in contrast to many of today's action films such as A Good Day to Die Hard, Taken 2 and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Homefront features some entertaining and well crafted action scenes, so the simply fact that the quantity is insufficient when the quality is so high bothers me as a fan of action cinema and of Jason Statham movies.

In attempting to be both a legitimate drama and an action thriller at the same time, Homefront finds a struggle in attempting to balance both themes and ends up being a slight variation of both. Overall I would say that the film is a thriller, not an action thriller. Its story isn't perfectly written, but it is an overall entertaining one.

Despite some story flaws, Homefront is decent overall and does contain some consistently effective dialogue which ensures that the cast have enough to work with, and it doesn't degrade them or leave them with weak characters. So while Sylvester Stallone's story isn't perfect, it passes off well enough and his dialogue is good so it is a fairly effective effort.

And visually, Homefront is terrific. Taking on some nice scenery, Homefront takes advantage of director Gary Fleder's keen eye for strong imagery and uses some really effective cinematography to capture everything which is also edited well, all against the backdrop of an intense musical score which makes the entire experience very atmospheric. But the highlight of all of the visual elements in Homefront is how it crafts some entertaining action scenes. Although the quantity of action is inconsistent over the course of its 100 minute running time, when it comes on screen it is very entertaining. The action is crafted to be filmed very well with shots that are long enough and good enough not to require excessive amounts of editing. The action scenes in Homefront remind us what real action is all about, and thanks to Jason Statham's heroism they prove entertaining.

Jason Statham is one of the most key assets to the success in Homefront. Instead of portraying an anti-hero, he simply plays a man who is a devoted father facing the turmoil of a town where criminals are connected to thoughtless human beings. But he doesn't play him as a man who wants to clean up the town, he simply plays the role of a man dedicated to protecting his daughter as he fights the inner turmoil of his past and the antagonising people that keep trying to make his life worse. While the motives behind the enemies are a little ridiculous, Jason Statham packs a hell of a punch for them with his immense fighting skills and handling of weapons as the lead in Homefront, and his rough edged line delivery makes him suited well for the part.

James Franco manages to make a good antagonist. Without ever sinking into being a one-dimensional tough guy, James Franco consistently keeps his villainous qualities on a realistic level by playing Morgan "Gator" Bodine simply as a petty criminal who hides behind a lot of people. He takes on the part really well and loads his character with a realistic aggression and rage against people who stand in his way, and as he is dragged into an unexpected world by Cassie Bodine Klum's drug fuelled anger which has him facing the consequences of Phil Broker's wrath. James Franco's realistic portrayal of the careless antagonist Mogan "Gator" Bodine is great, and it makes the realism of Homefront stronger.

Winona Ryder gives a terrific performance in Homefront. Though her character is not precisely the most key to the story, the way that she projects the nature of the aggressive and paranoid Sheryl Marie Mott through her tense chemistry with James Franco is impressive. You can see that she manipulates aspects of herself to make her character a really creepy one, befitting for the role. Winona Ryder takes on her role in Homefront greatly and it is terrific to see her active again in mainstream cinema because she is one of my favourite actresses.

Kate Bosworth completely nails her role by getting every annoying and stuck up aspect of her white trash character dead on, moreso than you might expect from her considering the standards of the usual action thriller. She gives it her all and gets the nature of Cassie Bodine Klum executed easily.

Lastly, the performance of the young Izabela Vidovic is impressive because she captures a lot of strong dramatic talents with her youthful charm and shares a fine and convincing chemistry with Jason Statham.

So while Homefront has a loose story and an inconsistent rate of action, it is still entertaining due to the quality of its action sequences and the performances of its cast.