The town of Sommerton Junction, Arizona is like any other small town. It’s just like Milford or Highland. Very quiet, quaint, and uneventful. Few crimes are committed in this small border town. The police deputies even resort to shooting guns at slabs of beef for fun, because nothing ever happens.

But we all know that the peace can’t be kept for long. In “The Last Stand”, that peace is broken in a magnificently violent fashion, as Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to the big screen in an exciting and action packed way.

In the movie, a ruthless drug lord Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega), is being transported by the FBI. All of a sudden, he makes a daring escape thanks to his lackies. He takes off in a Modified Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1, bound for the Mexican border. In order to get to Mexico, he must pass through Sommerton Junction, and Sheriff Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger), a former Los Angeles police officer..

Owens becomes increasingly motivated to stop the fugitive Cortez after he kills a local farmer, and one of his own deputies. He gets some help along the way from Lewis Dinkum (Knoxville), a gun museum curator, and his deputies Sarah Torrance (Jaimie Alexander), Mike Figuerola (Luiz Guzman), and Frank Martinez (Rodrigo Santoro). Together they make a gutsy stand to stop Cortez from crossing the border.

Famous Korean director Kim Jee-Woon made his US debut with this film, after directing such famous Asian films as “A Tale of Two Sisters”, “A Bittersweet Life”, and “I Saw The Devil.” All three of these movies are terribly gory, so this director is no stranger to violence. We see such scenes as a lacky being shot with a flare gun, then exploding, an FBI agent being gunned down, and a whole line of police officers getting slaughtered by a hail of automatic weapon fire.

Schwarzenegger is no stranger to action movies, starring in “Eraser”, “End of Days”, and “Commando”. But this was his first movie in which he starred in the lead role, after serving as California’s governor for eight years. He shows no signs of rust, tackling people off of rooftops and jumping through glass windows. He also establishes his authority over his lesser enemies, by blowing them away with shotguns and stating that “I’m the sheriff.” Even though he is a bit more civilized than in other roles, Schwarzenegger still delivers action and excitement, with a side of John Wayne style justice.

The action on the screen is as explosive as its star. It jumps out at you and makes your heart pound with the thrill of being in the intense moments. From Cortez’s escape, to Owens making a daring rescue of his deputies, you can’t resist but get excited lest you explode from holding it in. Wild shootouts, fist fights, and car chases are also a big part of the excitement. All of these things are typical of a classic Schwarzenegger movie, yet they don’t differ from his previous movies in terms of quality at all.

Even though Schwarzenegger has aged, he proves that he can still compete with the best of today’s action movie stars. Even though he still has it, he can’t help but acknowledge his age. During one scene a diner employee asks him how he feels, and Owens responds with “Old.”

As in stage plays, this serious action movie needed some comic relief. Johnny Knoxville was the perfect choice and made the movie even better. He behaves in the same harebrained manner as he does with Steve-O and Bam Margera in their movies. Knoxville’s character, Lewis Dinkum, is a dim-witted gun museum curator. He is the typical village idiot, yet he displays great bravery in the face of danger on several occasions, and becomes quite admirable.

You can find Knoxville’s unique style of physical comedy in the film when Dinkum tries to cut down a phone line via chainsaw, so he can use the pole as a road block. He fails because the line is still attached to the pole. He then climbs up the pole and shakes it down until it falls. This lovably goonish character also names his guns, such as “Vicky, my little Nazi-killer”, and “Georgette”.

Knoxville, whether anyone cares to admit it or not, translated his style of comedy well onto a more serious movie set, but didn’t fail to entertain in the process. He was truly an added bonus to an already well done film.

It was thought by some that due to Schwarzenegger’s age and absence from acting, his movies wouldn’t be as good as they used to be. He proved them all wrong with a classic spectacular display of strength, power, and masculinity. This film doesn’t fail to entertain, adding in all the flying bullets and explosions that it can. Anyone who doubted Schwarzenegger before has been proven wrong. Face it folks, he said he would be back. He is.