What Went Wrong: The Last Stand
By Shalimar Sahota
August 21, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The Last Stand stemmed from first time screenwriter Andrew Knauer. Lionsgate optioned his spec script in November 2009, with Lorenzo di Bonaventura producing. The script also made it on the black list of popular unproduced screenplays the same year. In September 2010 it was announced that di Bonaventura had approached South Korean director Kim Jee-Woon to direct. Responsible for powerhouses such as A Bittersweet Life, The Good, The Bad, The Weird and I Saw The Devil, The Last Stand would be Jee-Woon’s first English language film. “It’s a simple story we’re telling and we wanted a director who makes the simple feel rich,” said di Bonaventura. “He does that in every movie.” Jee-Woon described his concept for the film as a mix of Die Hard and High Noon. The following month came the news that Liam Neeson was attached to star. Then in February 2011 Neeson dropped out. There didn’t seem to be any clear reason as to why.
Five months later in July 2011, Arnold Schwarzenegger was officially confirmed to be in the starring role. The Last Stand would be Schwarzenegger’s first film in a lead role since leaving politics, and his first since Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. That Terminator sequel earned $150 million at the US box office back in 2003. Surely the iconic Schwarzenegger was still a box office draw?
Sheriff Ray Owens (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a former LAPD officer who has resigned himself to working in the peaceful border town of Sommerton Junction. However, Owens is about to receive a wake up call on his day off after drug kingpin Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) escapes from FBI agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker). Cortez is now racing to the border in a modified Corvette ZR1, intending to drive straight through to Mexico. The only thing standing in the way is Owens and his small team of officers.
There seem to be differing reports on the production budget for The Last Stand, though the figure cited the most is $30 million. Distributed by Lionsgate, the film opened on January 18, 2013. It made a new entry at #9 with an opening weekend gross of $6.2 million. According to Lionsgate, 22% of the audience that turned up were aged under 25 (and were probably wondering why a politician was in an action film). That same weekend the box office was led by Jessica Chastain with her new entry Mama at #1, as well as Zero Dark Thirty at #2. The Last Stand finished its run at the US box office earning just $12 million, making it Schwarzenegger’s lowest earning film in the US since… well… ever! As the film rolled out overseas, it seemed that audiences across the world weren’t that interested either, managing just $25.1 million. Its overall worldwide total came up to $37.1 million.
Reviews were mixed, with critics who enjoyed the film calling it “good fun,” “entertaining,” “a guilty pleasure,” and “the Arnie comeback we’ve all been waiting for.” Those who didn’t enjoy the film labelled it “predictable,” “disappointing,” “forgettable,” and said that it offers “nothing new.”
In an interview with Collider, Jee-Woon said that there were two things he wanted to show in the film with Schwarzenegger. “The one part is that I’d like to give the audience what they’ve always wanted to see and also I want to give the audience what they’ve never seen from him. It’s these two things I’m striving for.” However, as highlighted by the reviews, audiences didn’t really see Schwarzenegger doing anything he hadn’t done before.
Before Terminator 3, Schwarzenegger’s last few films in a starring role were End of Days, The 6th Day and Collateral Damage. All were original films, but the latter two in particular underperformed at the box office, suggesting that his popularity was already starting to wane. It wasn’t until a Terminator sequel that he was able to bring audiences back into seeing him again on the big screen, suggesting that if Schwarzenegger is not a part of a franchise, then audiences are not going to go out of their way to see him.
The film actually has a really great cast, with the likes of Forest Whitaker, Luis Guzman, Peter Stormare, Jamie Alexander and Johnny Knoxville in supporting roles. However, it is odd (and rather unfortunate) that Eduardo Noriega as Cortez is scripted spending most of his time behind the wheel of a car. In fact the Corvette ZR1 gets more screen time than some of the cast. It’s also quite surprising just how much space Johnny Knoxville has on some of the posters as the weapons enthusiast Lewis Dinkum, especially when taking into account just how little screen time he has in the film. This in itself might have confused some audiences. I mean, Johnny Knoxville and Arnold Schwarzenegger… starring together… just what kind of film is this?
The timing was unfortunate, with The Last Stand released a month after the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. Given some of the violent killings that occur in the film (by guns), it’s certainly possible that in the wake of Sandy Hook, audiences didn’t want to be reminded of that. This is debatable, though, for during this period US audiences turned Django Unchained into a $150 million+ earner. On the other hand, Gangster Squad faltered, earning just $46 million, though notably it had a sequence reshot following the Aurora, Colorado shooting.
Unlike those films, The Last Stand just so happens to have a firearms museum where the heroes stock up on weapons and ammunition. The scene inside Lewis’ museum does somewhat glorify classic weapons such as the Tommy Gun and a Vickers Machine Gun. There’s also the repeated use of a Smith & Wesson Model 500. The Vickers and Smith & Wesson also feature prominently on the posters and in the trailers. While promoting the film, Schwarzenegger cited what happened at Sandy Hook, saying, “[This is] entertainment and the other thing is a tragedy beyond belief. It’s really serious and it’s the real deal. We have to analyze how we deal with mental illness, how we deal with gun laws, how we deal with parenting.”
Schwarzenegger’s time as Governor of California resulted in all manner of allegations and scandals relating to his past behavior. Following the end of his time in office the news of Schwarzenegger’s infidelity with a housekeeper was made public, at which point his wife of 25 years, Maria Shriver, separated from him. When running for Governor, his popularity was incredibly high, but once the news of his past scandal emerged, it plummeted almost immediately. Schwarzenegger’s life off screen appeared to have an effect on whether audiences would pay to see him on screen. For some, he was now no longer a reason to see a film, but a reason to stay away.
In hindsight, it would seem that the film could have attracted a bigger audience had Liam Neeson stuck around. Given his star power and insane popularity with those Taken films (Neeson’s Taken sequel outgrossed The Expendables sequel, and on a much smaller budget), his involvement could have turned The Last Stand into a #1 film.
When I first head about The Last Stand I was intrigued, largely because of Kim Jee-Woon’s involvement, who for me is a bigger draw than Schwarzenegger. I waited till it was released on DVD/Blu-Ray. The result is an okay action film where the action is actually well staged (none of that shoddy frantic shaky camera rubbish here). While the film plays on Schwarzenegger’s status as being older and (supposedly) more wiser, the low worldwide takings would suggest that he wasn’t really missed. Scandals have harmed his career, and the film itself was seen as merely good but not great. Whether Schwarzenegger is still relevant will be answered with the upcoming releases of Escape Plan and Sabotage.