All 34 Arnold Schwarzenegger movies ranked from worst to best

12. The Last Stand

Now this is how you make a comeback! Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first role after his return to Hollywood and he returned with a vengeance. The Last Stand is a movie designed for an action hero (it wouldn’t work without one) so it was only fitting that cinema’s greatest action hero headline it.

The film revolves around a small-town sheriff (Schwarzenegger) who swings into action when an escaped drug lord attempts to travel through his town. It’s the challenge he’s been looking for, and one that he struggles with because of his age. And that provides the catalyst for a 90-minute spectacle full of shootouts, one-liners, and even a physical fistfight or two.

The Last Stand is more violent and slightly more serious than Schwarzenegger’s action flicks from the ’80s, but it possesses the same spirit as those outings, existing simply to entertain fans of the legendary movie star. It succeeds in doing that, delivering hardcore entertainment from start-through-finish, mainly because Arnold was back on form in an awesome leading performance that proved he hadn’t lost a step.

We don’t appreciate this one enough, but it was the perfect vehicle for the action star of yesteryear to reintroduce himself to modern audiences, showing why he is considered the Hollywood heavyweight that he is. Mission accomplished.