Review of Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) by Kevin D — 23 Aug 2011

Mostly fun, incredibly stupid neo-grindhouse film. It's worth a watch for two reasons: 1) practical gore FX, which are plentiful and amazing 2) Rutger Hauer acts the living shit out of this movie! He elevates this movie so far beyond its scope I think the man deserves an award of some kind.

Maybe one of those Independent Spirit awards? Despite my enjoyment of many aspects of the film, it commits a huge crime in my book where these kinds of nostalgia-fueled movies are concerned: it spends WAAAAY too much time pandering to the audience.

Every disgusting scene, though very well done from an FX point of view, is so heightened, so shrill, so desperate to convince you that it's cool and transgressive, it's like watching a reel of 90s Mountain Dew commercials on a loop.

I get it. No, seriously, I do. You're extreme indie throwback filmmaking, brah! Your color palette is very Argento. Mm-hmm. Oh, and the soundtrack is kind of a Goblin/John Carpenter pastiche. Yes, that's nice.

Okay, fountains of blood, nice. Oh for god's sake, just stop showing off already! I dunno, something about Robert Rodriguez makes me enjoy his neo-grindhouse stuff. I love Planet Terror and Machete.

Hobo With a Shotgun is entertaining enough, but I wasn't grinning from ear to ear the whole time like I was with Machete. Perhaps part of the problem is that Hobo's not nearly as clever as Machete.

There's an attempt at socio-political commentary in Hobo, but it's broadly drawn and doesn't really make much sense. Unlike Machete, where the commentary is clear, specific, and relates directly to the action.

Hobo would've benefitted from more Planet Terror-like over-the-top action and less Machete-like social commentary.