Arnold is back. Should he be? Look, existential questions are better left by the side of the road when it comes to Schwarzenegger movies.
Arnold plays a small town sheriff who finds himself in an untenable situation with a madman evildoer driving a one-off version of the Corvette ZR-1. At one point, the comment is made that the standard ZR-1 has 700HP, but THIS one has over a thousand. After all, it's a show car. Wait...show cars sometimes don't even have engines; why would this one be bumped up in power?
Anyway, actual acting talent is provided by Forrest Whitaker. He's the FBI agent who was responsible for the big bad guy when he broke out of custody on the day he was to be executed. Why was the FBI dealing with a prisoner? Why was he being moved outside the facility? Umm...shut up.
The hidden talents of Johnny Knoxville can be seen on screen. Well, Johnny can be seen, at least. Whatever talents he has will remain hidden. I have no idea why anyone thinks this guy is worth watching on either the big or small screen, but he managed to get into this movie, so someone out there has to like him for some reason. Meanwhile, Peter Stomare is trying to do a southern accent. Not something the Swede comes even close to pulling off. Wile we are in the subject of the cast, why does this town in South Arizona have just as many Austrian immigrants as it does Mexicans?
Our villain, master of driving and in a car of unlimited speed, can have entire conversations at a near whisper at 170mph in a car that NO ONE who has been in a Vette at 80 would call "quiet." He can then jerk the car multiple directions at that speed, execute a 180, and somehow pick up reverse to continue moving the direction he was going, but now in reverse. I'm not sure what speed reverse gear in a corvette is limited to, but I'm pretty certain it does not stretch to anywhere close to 100.
So, the firefights. They have the standard Hollywood fare - lots of shooting, lots of missing, lots of unrealistic gunplay, lots of bad tactics, and almost no reloading. The fact that these paramilitary guys can't hit jack all is standard for all the Hollywood action movies, but its still annoying. I know the wacky sidekick has to outwit the guys with training, but its embarrassing to think the audience is going to buy into it.
When our hero finally goes door to door with the bad guy in his borrowed Camaro ZL1, it is laughable to think it would keep up. But then, it's laughable to think that either low-slung sport coupe would be ale to make any kind of headway through a field of corn. I will say that they didn't resort to too much CGI. it's nice to see old school special effects done well.
Acting was passable. Dialogue was mediocre. Storyline was lame. Effects were pretty good. Action was too limited. Arnold is old.
1.75/5