Homefront

Year: 2013
Genre: Action
Director: Gary Fleder


Plot: A former DEA agent moves to a quiet town with his daughter, only to cross paths with a local meth dealer.


The gist: Usually with Jason Statham, you can expect loads of action and lots of broken bones, unless it's the dramatic Hummingbird where he tones down the fist fighting and exercises more acting chops. Homefront seems to lean more towards his usual stuff, but doesn't have as much excitement as you'd expect.

The premise itself seems promising though not entirely unfamiliar. A DEA agent whose last task went south, retires and moves to a little town with his daughter, but soon gets the unwanted attention of a local meth dealer, who subsequently discovers his identity and tries to take advantage of it.

Statham does get to throw down a few times, but he spends half the film trying to be a father to his little girl, and sadly he's not very good at playing the caring dad trying to start anew. Even the final action sequence is a letdown, thanks to Gary Fleder's poor direction.


The good: Kate Bosworth is quite good as the trailer park trash drug addict sister of James Franco's character, but sadly doesn't get enough screen time. Izabela Vidovic is all right as Statham's daughter. Same goes for Winona Ryder as Franco's girlfriend.

The bad: James Franco falls short in becoming the villain of the film, he's just not intimidating enough. Frank Grillo, who plays one of the other bad guys, would have been more suitable for the role. And as stated, lots of slow and dramatic attempts at creating substance, but not very convincing.


Verdict: It's just decent as an action movie, and considering Sylvester Stallone himself adapted the screenplay, I expected more. (6/10)