Post by Fickle81 on Apr 8, 2011 22:19:26 GMT -5
*Minor Spoilers
No,your eyes are not deceiving you...I have in fact seen this,a movie myself and many others have been highly anticipating,1 month before its U.S. release...I fucking love the internet.
Hobo With a Shotgun is actually a Cinderella story come true. Back in 2007,Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino released the double feature film known as Grindhouse,which included Rodriguez's Planet Terror (awesome and the superior of the 2) and Tarantino's Death Proof (meh...defiantly his weakest movie),to modest critical acclaim (unfortunately,it didn't do all that well box office wise). They were designed to be a throwback to the era of low budget gritty looking exploitation films from the 70s,and did the job damn well. In between these 2 movies were a bunch of mock trailers for fictitious grindhouse style films,each done by different directors:Robert Rodriguez's Machete, Edgar Wright's (Shaun of the Dead,Hot Fuzz,Scott Pilgrim) Don't,Rob Zombie's (House of the Thousand Corpses,Devil's Rejects,Zombieween 1 and 2) Werewolf Women of the SS,and Eli Roth's (Cabin Fever,Hostel 1 and 2) Thanksgiving. These trailers were so well received by fans of the double feature that many wanted feature length versions of them,and from that came the recent feature lengh of Machete done by Rodriguez (Eli Roth has expressed large interest in turning Thanksgiving into a feature length film as well).
What many people DON'T know is that the film's producers held a contest for ametuer film makers to send in their own mock grindhouse film trailers and the winner would have their trailer attached to random theater prints of Grindhouse. The winner was aspiring Canadian film maker Jason Eisener for his trailer of Hobo With a Shotgun,about a homeless man who gets a shotgun and goes on a killing spree,taking out criminals and other street scum. The trailer became mythical due to the limited amount of prints it was attached to,and because of that,gained enough popularity that it warranted a feature length version as well. It took awhile,but not only did the creation of the film FINALLY get off the ground in 2010,but it also got a well renowned actor as the hobo himself:The legendary Rutger Hauer (of Blade Runner and The Hitcher fame).
When I saw the first official UNRATED trailer for the film,I was salivating. I had recently seen Machete before then,and although I enjoyed that film quite a bit,it kinda let me down as a true exploitation style grindhouse film. In terms of the exploitative nature of grindhouse cinema,it was rather tame and even had social commentary attached to it,which I normally appreciate in a film,but it has no place at all in a grindhouse film. So here was a film that,judging by the trailer,appeared to fully embrace its sleazy gritty hyper violent and disturbing nature oriented grindhouse roots...but the big question is,does the film itself deliver (I know,you've been wading through a lot of non review bullshit to get to this point)?
For the most part,FUCK and YES! The movie is about an hour and 25 minutes (which is about how long most grindhouse films are) and only the first 20 minutes or so are used for any semblance of development (character and plot)...once the hobo makes the fateful decision to buy a shotgun rather than his dream lawnmower,shit gets real in full gear,and never once lets up. What transpires from that point can best be described as full blown cinematic mayhem...bloody squibs and body parts fly left and right,piles of people get maimed and butchered in mucho brutal fashion,bare female flesh becomes common place,and over the top comedic hammy acting becomes the norm (especially from the villains).
While things do get undoubtedly ugly in violence levels,the movie never takes that or itself seriously in the slightest,making the entire affair come off as very comedic. Even a particularly morbid scene involving a flame thrower and a school bus with children as passengers is made shit eating grin funny with the song Disco Inferno playing in the background. Some people who have seen the movie have complained that the film actually goes TOO far with its violence and doesn't show any kind of restraint. For me though,I welcomed this because I thought a lot of past films that were deemed extremely brutal (like,say,The Devil's Rejects) didn't deserve such hype because they showed TOO MUCH restraint...if you're going to go all out,come big or stay on the fucking porch,and not only did Hobo With a Shotgun not know the meaning of the word "restraint",but if you tried to explain said meaning to it,it would roundhouse kick your head off with an ice skate blade (see the movie to get that reference). If you thought Planet Terror or Machete was as nasty as it could get in regards to modern day grindhouse cinema,you haven't seen shit yet. I'll be VERY surprised if the film gets released in U.S. theaters UNCUT with an R rating.
As far as the hammy acting goes,another complaint the few people who have seen this have is that those who are doing it,which is about 90% of the film's cast,make it so the viewer doesn't care or get invested into these characters at all. From my perspective,this was done entirely on purpose. It was done to contrast with the hobo himself,one of the only people who acts like a real human being,making the viewer get behind him even more. In that sense,Rutger Hauer proves once again that he's the fucking man,giving a surprisingly endearing performance as the good hearted homeless man who gets extremely fed up with the crime ridden surroundings he's found himself in and while he gains an intense and nutty mean streak because of this,still manages to maintain an ounce of humanity...probably due to the presence of the hooker with a soul and heart of gold,the only other character in the film who doesn't act like a rabid animal. Not to mention I wouldn't say the hammy actors,who you know are only there to become shell sponges,make it so you don't care about them AT ALL,because their hamminess and their great lines of dialogue (some of which are so bad they're side splittingly hilarious) provide great cheesy amusement and entertainment and further perpetuate the tongue in cheek tone of the film.
As if all that wasn't fun times enough,director Jason Eisener shows great talent for a first time director. He brings such great buck wild bombastic energy to the film that he rivals Robert Rodriguez,the current king of that kind of film making,which makes the film's pacing lightning fast. Eisener also acts as the editor of the film and shows great polish in that area as well...one editing sequence near the end involving weapon maintenance and preparation totally even slyly echoed Army of Darkness,and that is never a bad thing. The cinematography was also money as well with some great use of lighting that at times felt like Dario Argento's giallo classic Suspiria,which was an interesting choice to go with for a grindhouse film considering most films of that ilk use mostly natural light to keep their gritty look and feel,yet somehow in this case,the at times exquisite moody lighting never detracted from the film's grittiness. Finally,the mostly synthesizer soundtrack was also dope. Defiantly had that late 70s/early 80s vibe to it,which is perfect for this type of movie (I even picked up slight hints of John Carpenter as well,which again,is never a bad thing). All in all,on a technical level,the movie rocks ass there as well.
So given all that,you would think that this would be a contender for my favorite film of the year so far. Well...no,not really,as it had gaping flaws as well. Firstly,it clearly showed how the hobo got his shotgun,but never once explained just where or how the fuck he was getting all his ammo for it. Considering he spent all the money he had on the shotgun itself,this is a pretty big plot hole and requires a bit too much suspension of disbelief to accept that he has this seemingly endless supply of shells. Second,near the end the good hearted whore gives an empowering speech to a group of people inspiring them to stand up against the main villain (Drake) and his lackeys (mainly all of the corrupt police department)...now where have I seen something similar to that befo...oh THAT'S RIGHT,Jessica Alba's character did the EXACT SAME FUCKING THING in Machete,which brought that film's social commentary full circle. I can't decide whether this was better or worse because UNLIKE Machete,this movie didn't even bother to include any social message to it...but then again,at least Machete built up to that point and didn't try to tag any kind of commentary whatsoever out of nowhere for one brief moment (to this film's credit though,I'm not sure I would call that social commentary as it fell more along the lines of a basic motivational speech)...still kind of on the fence about this one.
Then there's arguably the biggest flaw...the armored duo known as The Plague. While they were cool as hell (especially with the carnage they cause),they come out of nowhere with little to no explanation,aren't developed in the slightest,have strange things about them that felt out of place (why was one of them fighting what appeared to be a giant octopus while the captive hobo looked on?),and a plot point involving them near the end is left unresolved (one of them gets killed,the living one demands the one who killed his partner replace him as a member of The Plague,Plague guy gets told to fuck off,Plague guy just walks away)...all of the aforementioned things left me with a "...um,what?" kind of impression about them. Finally,the movie didn't so much as end as it did stop...abruptly at that. A few more minutes of proper closure wouldn't have hurt the movie in the slightest.
All in all though,I pretty much got exactly what I wanted and expected out of this movie. Dumb,sleazy,violent,over the top,and morbidly comedic fun...like modern day grindhouse meets Troma Films (The Toxic Avenger,Class at Nuke Em High,Cannibal The Musical,etc.) with a decent budget. If this movie DOES happen to come out in a theater near me and not get the dumped by limited release treatment,I'll make the trek and pay to see it on the big screen,cause movies like this need more support. Surprisingly,the few critics that have seen this so far are actually giving it the praise it deserves,which may signal that these normally high brow paid critics may finally be starting to take the stick out of their asses and are learning to enjoy a dumb brainless fun movie that doesn't try to be anything more. Don't expect award winning stuff that reinvents the wheel. Just expect a violently fun spectacle and you'll get enjoyment out of it. If this doesn't sound like your type of movie,by all means don't even bother with it. While I do love my high quality Filet mignon caliber films,I'll also gladly scarf down a greasy artery clogging Wendy's Baconator movie such as this and enjoy every delicious bite. Jason Eisener,you've proven yourself worthy of being a professional film maker with your debut effort and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.
4/5