Though I will now tread on the following cliché, there’s certainly trouble here on the homefront. Both, in the plot of the new “Jason Statham movie,” Homefront, as well as in the so-so mechanics of that movie itself. It’s not that there’s any offensively bad filmmaking going on here- the pegs of the family rivalry storyline all fit nicely in their holes, which makes for easy entertainment (if you call guns a-blazing warfare and smashing heads into cars easy entertainment.)

However, what the movie lacks in creativity are enough interesting pieces at work here. Screenwriter Sylvester Stallone, ever the subtle writer, pens an earnest enough father and daughter story at the heart of this Southern shoot-em-up. Though given points for crafting a story centered with real heart and believable character motivation, these moments of Phil and Maddy Broker (newcomer Izabela Vidovic) are as flagrant and obvious as Statham’s fight scenes, which successfully utilize the star and excite the audience, making watching this action flick one of the more likable.

It’s a muscle-y, gritty, action thriller, with a protective father and loving daughter story at the center.

Adding to the interesting things in this movie is the inclusion of both James Franco and Winona Ryder, playing their most impressionable southern white trash selves. Franco, as Morgan “Gator” Bodine (as hilariously conceived a villain name I’ve heard), plays the local badass who finds himself needing to scare off the newly-in-town badass Broker, and Ryder as Sheryl Marie Mott, his devoted girlfriend. What’s interesting about Franco’s antagonist here is that he might be the most reluctant bad guy ever, as we see that his appetite for destruction only comes out when his junkie sister Cassie Bodine Klum (played by a convincing and well-acted Kate Bosworth) asks him for favors, either selling her drugs or “scaring” off the Broker family after a run-in Maddy and Cassie’s son had at school. Instead of hot and fiery, Gator comes off as a simple guy who’s just plain inconvenienced to be a bad guy instead of thriving it it, which no doubt stems from Franco’s signature apathetic showmanship. An interesting casting choice, the inclusion of Franco is just confusing and actually highlights the incredulity of the movie.

Statham plays well here (even if he doesn’t play well with others). As Phil Broker, a former undercover field cop newly moved into a small town for his protection from a biker gang, you don’t have to imagine how well trained in combat this normal civilian and father is. There is enough action and bad guys that come his way, with Gator’s gang and the former bike gang, who both have an investment in the meth trafficking game that Broker disrupts. I would argue that the entire drug dealing storyline is unnecessary as if Stallone decided to front-load the story with even more cliché dealings, which, if left out of the movie, would have really strengthened the element of the rivalry.

Set on a big enough and visually interesting stage, with brutal action scenes and A-list Hollywood stars, Homefront works. It’s a muscle-y, gritty, action thriller, with a protective father and loving daughter story at the center. But it’s also a movie so obvious and heavy handed that the characters that get socked by Statham are sometimes not the only ones left groaning.