Jason Statham is out against the bad guys in Homefront.

Homefront (2013)
Certified: 15
Duration: 100 minutes
Directed by: Gary Fleder
Starring: Jason Statham, James Franco, Izabela Vidovic, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth, Chuck Zito, Frank Grillo, Rachelle Lefevre, Clancy Brown, Christa Campbell, Marcus Hester, Omar Benson Miller
KRS release

Homefront is adapted from a book by Chuck Logan, and is produced and scripted by Sylvester Stallone. The film is, in fact, a throwback to the 1980s action films, the only difference being that it has an incredible James Franco as a B-movie-type villain and an underlying theme that makes it a sort of working-man hero type of action movie.

Main actor Jason Statham gives the film an honest face, whereas if the producer had starred in it, it would have been tagged as another Stallone actioner.

Statham is Phil Broker, a Drug Enforcement Agency officer, who carries out a bust that ends up in bloodshed.

Danny T (Chuck Zito), the leader of the motorcycle gang involved, vows vengeance on seeing his son killed.

Phil, whose wife is dead, has a 10-year-old daughter, Maddie (Izabela Vidovic). After this incident, he decides to retire and move to a quiet town to give his child a normal upbringing. Here he keeps his past a secret, but the town is not the idyllic place he thought it would be.

Maddie has problems at school with a bully and she beats him up. Enter Cassie (Kate Bosworth), the bully’s mother, who is a drug addict. Thus Phil also attracts the attention of Gator (James Franco), Cassie’s brother, who is also the local drug kingpin and mad as a hatter. The law is no help but Phil finds help from Tito (Omar Benson Miller), who gives him a rundown of what is what in the town, and gets some sympathy from school psychologist Susan (Rachel Lefevre).

When Gator discovers Phil’s past and Danny T’s vengeance, he makes plans that will mean trouble for Phil. Sheryl (Winona Ryder), who had been one of his allies, makes a deal with Danny T. He gives them Phil and Maddy, and in exchange he gets an increase in the shares of the drug business.

Under Gary Fleder’s direction and Theo Van Sande’s cinematography, Homefront looks simply striking. The sequences that are filmed in the dark interiors and in exterior settings are impeccable, offering luscious visuals and details.

While the film has several action sequences, there seem to be very little computer-generated special effects. The emphasis here is on old-style fisticuffs, shoot-outs and chase sequences.

One of the film’s highlights is Franco who seems to be having a ball playing bad guy roles after this year’s Spring Breakers. His characters are over-the-top cartoonish, yet, at the same time, so very real. He is a loose cannon and one never knows what he will come up with. And he more than once upstages Statham.

Statham’s sequences with an excellent young Vidovic are very genuine and show an emotional aspect to him that has been untapped so far. Bosworth is trashy in a good way, while Ryder adds to the movie’s dark element.

All in all, Homefront is an action fest that delivers all the goods without resorting to any overdone cinematic trickery.