Hollywood is capping off a year filled with ‘80s flashback blunders. Back in February “Bullet to the Head” tanked and “Escape Plan” barely made a ripple back in October.

“Homefront” (Rated R; 100 Min.) is the ‘80s action genre’s last stand in 2013. And in a totally unabashed, completely amoral way, it’s pretty fun. Just do not meditate on it for too long.

Phil Broker (Jason Statham) is an undercover DEA agent who retires from the game after bringing down a biker meth lord. Turns out, “Homefront” traffics in biker meth lords. Gator Bodine (James Franco) is another such character. He lives in the small town Broker moves to and becomes entangled with him after Broker’s daughter beats up his nephew. Things escalate as Bodine tries to exact southern justice and Broker delivers a swift kick to Bodine’s lackies’ asses.

It is all contrived, but even though this movie only exists to keep Statham revved up ever since the “Transporter” franchise came to an end, the movie actually attaches some interesting performances to help it be more than one-dimensional. Franco is not as unhinged as you might think, which is slightly disappointing. He plays the character with a cool composure and doesn’t really go nuts until the climax.

The really interesting performances here come from the movie’s leading ladies, meth addicts Sheryl (Winona Ryder) and Gator’s sister Cassie (Kate Bosworth). Bosworth chews scenery as a woman on a warpath and makes the most of every scene she is in. Ryder is somewhat more reserved, but develops as a character, something that has been missing in screenplays from Sylvester Stallone for years.

In fact, Stallone wrote the movie (adapted from Chuck Logan’s novel “Homefront”), but allows Statham to inherit the type of character that made Stallone a star decades ago. Instead of writing non-descript villains who exist solely as target practice, Stallone capitalizes on a novel idea and actually gives his characters motivations to play with. Gator is a recovering addict and is trying to get Cassie to give up her drugs. We see Cassie’s husband genuinely wanting to help her as well. The development is minimal and not allowed to flourish like it should have, but “Homefront” shows just enough initiative to be rewarded.

The characters make a valiant effort to rise above the stale plot, but the writing is not as successful in that department. This is a pulpy revenge story, nothing more. But the action is not inventive enough. The bad guys get what they deserve in true Jason Statham style, but by the end he’s punching them the same way over and over. And the final mano-a-mano fight between Broker and Bodine is great up until it decides to find a moral center before the final blow. All of a sudden “Homefront” preaches about taking the high road. Broker tried that earlier, and it did not work. Statham’s effort in “Parker” earlier this year developed the revenge plot more effectively.

There’s nothing new to find here in “Homefront;” it is a violent movie devoid of twists or turns in the script. It’s the performances and the quick pace that keep “Homefront” humming when the plot starts to go through the motions. The movie shows promise that should have been developed more, but it takes enough initiative to rise above its kin.