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In America, they’ve already made up their minds: Arnold Schwarzenegger is no longer a star, at least not a big enough star to carry a film on his own any more. The Last Stand, his first solo picture since standing down as Governor of California, took just $12m at the US box office, while his latest, Sabotage, has so far taken less than $10.5m. In his movie-making prime, an Arnie blockbuster would have taken that sort of money in a single Saturday afternoon.

It’s only his partnership with the enduringly popular Sylvester Stallone and the prospect of a fifth Terminator film next year that gives his faltering film-making career any sort of credibility at all.

That said, if he keeps making films as bad as Sabotage, I’m not sure even the loyal Stallone will be able to save him from the embarrassment of future films going straight to DVD.

Because the American film-going public are absolutely right about this one. Sabotage is a stinker – unpleasantly violent, poorly cast and performed. Schwarzenegger plays corrupt DEA agent John Wharton – but he is simply not up to the job of playing an emotionally conflicted character. He could just about manage it in Total Recall but now, seriously out of practice, he just doesn’t look like he can any longer. That said, you can see what must have attracted him to the project. As a writer, David Ayer has a fine track record, with credits that include Training Day, while as a director, his last film, End Of Watch, garnered some decent reviews. But that had creative novelty. by contrast, simply has blood, guns and Arnie…

Hampered by the sort of plot twists that have you shaking your head in disbelief, this is a film in