HOMEFRONT

HOMEFRONT SYNOPSIS –An undercover agent finds his cover blown and his daughter in danger after a feud with a local drug dealer. Any time a retired cop who is now a family man and moves to a small town you can make a safe bet that all hell is about to break loose . This is a staple element of the action genre and well within the realms of what you would expect from a screenplay by Sylvester Stallone. This is not, of course, to say that clichés instantly doom a film (see escape Plan) and this is by no means a bad film Most of the reason for this has to go to the primary protagonist Phil Brooker (Jason Statham) and antagonist Gator Bodine (James Franco) who both play their parts as though starring in a much higher quality film. Fittingly for its small town setting the action in Homeland is mostly small scale, up close and personal and hand-to-hand. Give this one a miss if your hoping for big scale explosions and car chases, the action that takes place here is decent but it feels lacking towards the film’s middle which leaves it relying on its stories and characters. This is rather problematic as the story (as noted) isn’t exactly original and the characters (lead performances aside) might as well have been cut out of cardboard. Despite this the film has sincerity about it, yes clichés abound but they are performed with conviction and the finale does pick up the pace considerably. Perhaps this isn’t going to be a particularly memorable film but it does provide a few hours entertainment, maybe not the highest praise but quite far from cinematic damnation. FINAL VERDICT 4/10 Falls short but not the complete disaster it might have been. Too much by the numbers.