Homefront (film)

Homefront is a 2013 American action thriller film directed by Gary Fleder and released nationwide in theaters on November 27. Based on Chuck Logan's novel of the same name and adapted into a screenplay by Sylvester Stallone, the film stars Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, and Kate Bosworth. Filming began on October 1, 2012 in New Orleans.

Plot
Two years after the raids of a gang's methamphetamine laboratory where his cover was blown, retired DEA Agent and U.S. war veteran, Phil Broker (Jason Statham) and his daughter Maddy (Izabela Vidovic) have moved to a small Louisiana town where Maddy's deceased mother grew up. Maddy gets into a schoolyard fight with a bully named Teddy Klum; when Broker comes to the school, Teddy's hostile father, Jimmy (Marcus Hester), picks a fight with him and loses. Teddy's mother, Cassie (Kate Bosworth), later asks her brother, a drug dealer named Gator Bodine (James Franco), to scare Broker.

Broker fights off a few of Gator's thugs at a gas station when they threaten him. While he and Maddy later go horse riding, Gator breaks into their house. He deduces from old personnel files that Broker was the undercover cop responsible for the arrest of Danny T (Chuck Zito) in the raid two years earlier. Hoping to get a wider distribution for the drugs he manufactures, Gator tips off Danny T, who sends members of his gang to kill Broker.

Broker finds Gator's meth lab and sabotages it. He is captured and tortured by the same thugs he fought off earlier, but manages to fight them off and escape. As he and Maddy are preparing to leave, the gang members arrive. One of the gang members goes to the barn and engages in a fight with Teedo, but Teedo kills him with a pitch fork. In the scuffle, Broker manages to kill most of the gang members, and Maddy is kidnapped by Gator's girlfriend, Sheryl (Winona Ryder), but not before she calls the police. She uses her cell phone to call her dad and, from her descriptions, Broker realizes that she has been taken to Gator's meth lab.

Cassie arrives at Gator's warehouse with news of the gunfight. When she discovers Maddy there, she accidentally sets off the booby trap that Broker has set up. The lab and much of the warehouse explode, and Gator watches his business go up in flames. A scuffle ensues and Gator shoots Cassie before fleeing with Maddy in his truck. Broker chases him in a police cruiser until he crashes it and they find themselves stuck on a bridge closed off by the sheriff as Broker is injured from crashing the car. Gator threatens Maddy and nearly kills Broker but he beats up Gator and ridicules him, even pointing a gun to his head. Maddy pleads him not to and Broker surrenders Gator telling him that his life was just saved by his daughter.

Gator and Sheryl are arrested, Cassie is taken to the hospital and Broker later visits Danny T in prison, letting him know that he will be around when Danny T is eventually released.

Cast

 * Jason Statham as Phil Broker
 * James Franco as Morgan "Gator" Bodine
 * Winona Ryder as Sheryl Marie Mott
 * Marcus Hester as Jimmy Klum
 * Kate Bosworth as Cassie Bodine Klum
 * Chuck Zito as Danny "T" Turrie
 * Frank Grillo as Cyrus Hanks
 * Clancy Brown as Sheriff Keith Rodrigue
 * Izabela Vidovic as Maddy Broker
 * Rachelle Lefevre as Susan Hetch
 * Christa Campbell as Lydia
 * Stuart Greer as Lewis
 * Omar Benson Miller as Teedo
 * Pruitt Taylor Vince as Werks

Development and writing
The screenplay was written by Sylvester Stallone based on the novel of the same name by writer Chuck Logan. It was originally intended as a starring role for Stallone but he passed on the role to Statham staying on as producer.

Box office
Homefront grossed $6.9 million in its opening weekend, finishing in 5th place. It finished its theatrical run with a total gross of $51.7 million, against its $22 million production budget.

Critical response
Homefront has received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 42% rating, based on 111 reviews, with an average score of 5/10. The site's consensus states: "While it boasts a capable cast, the disappointingly dull Homefront hearkens back to classic action thrillers without adding anything to the genre." On Metacritic the film has a score of 40 out of 100, based on reviews from 35 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Scott Foundas of Variety magazine notes the reliable presence of Statham, but blames director Gary Fleder for "making an incoherent jumble of most of the action scenes". He calls Bosworth's performance the films "greatest surprise", and Franco's performance as its "biggest disappointment". Foundas calls the film "surprisingly joyless" and "less than the sum of its parts."