Old, haggard, and scandalised, the action movie genre has fallen far from its popular peak in the 80s and 90s. Just like its one time poster boy, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But Arnie and traditional action appear to be back in full force, as the first trailer for The Last Stand reveals.

Arnie plays a small town sheriff who has to take on a small army of drug cartel criminals using nothing but an arsenal of oversized weapons and a muddied past which allows him to deal death without losing sleep.

The trailer is not without its modern touches. Its style makes it feel like a mixture between Transformers and Inception, but this is all surface gloss masking what seems to be a very typical action film. With Johnny Knoxville. In an annoying hat.

Anyone who doubted the saleability of the action genre in its purest form should take a look at the box office receipts for Fast & Furious 5. And anyone who doubted Arnie…well he still can’t act. But as long as he can shoot and quip, his comeback might be as preposterous as his political career.

The Last Stand will be out in January 2013.