• Movies

by TheDCD on 05.23.11

There are just some movies that you need to kick back and have a good time with. Screw trying to find a social message or seeking out something that provides Oscar-caliber entertainment. We’re talking the kind of film that doesn’t rely too heavily on logic and instead leans more toward having a blast with it. Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino did this a few years back with their Grindhouse double feature, and now, in similar spirit, we have Jason Eisener’s Hobo With a Shotgun, which is pure film pulp. Just the way we love it.

Loosely based on a fake trailer made up for the Canadian version of Grindhouse, the film stars Rutger Hauer as a hobo who arrives in a no-name town, which has run aground through corruption. Criminals are roaming the streets, from pimps to a child molester dressed like Santa Claus, and running them all is a mastermind called the Drake (Brian Downey), who thrives on corruption and the thrill of death. He and his two sons, who look like messed up '80s preppies, get a kick out of attaching a manhole cover to someone’s head, dropping them in the sewer, tying a barb wire noose around their neck and tearing it off with a truck.

Needless to say, the hobo is not amused. He finds a hooker on the street with a heart of gold, Abby (Molly Dunsworth), who motivates him to keep hope alive somewhere, following a brush with the corrupt police department. Pushed to his very limits, the hobo sets aside his lawn-mowing dreams in favor of a shotgun, letting justice run wild the only way he knows how — one shell at a time.

No, the story isn’t so hot, but it’s just a placeholder for all kinds of awesome segments in the film, and they all tie together wonderfully. It’s rated NC-17, just like any good grindhouse flick, and for good reason — people get decapitated, blown to bits, and all sorts of good, gooey stuff. For that matter, having topless women beat a guy to death never hurts either. This is pure, simple fun, if you can stomach the content. And the further it goes, the nuttier it gets. Just wait until you see the Plague enter the picture, looking like rejects out of the Mad Max universe.

Eisener directs with tongue firmly planted in cheek, complete with the occasional off-beat camera angle and plenty of nifty blood effects, well worth the $3 million plunked into this picture. But it’s the actors who make this show something to see. Downey chews up the scenery as Drake, along with his two idiot sons, Ivan (who thrives on wearing ice skates to stomp people with) and Slick (the favored kid, who throws around smack like it’s sugar). Dunsworth is impressive as young Abby, who also finds herself pushed to a breaking point.

But, really, this is Hauer’s show. As he’s proven in Blade Runner, Ladyhawke, and countless other films (among them an equally guilty pleasure, Blind Fury), his character is nothing short of spectacular. We never really learn much about the hobo, just enough to learn what drives him — and he shoots stuff wonderfully. Hauer looks like he had a ball with this role, and we’ve had just as much fun as he did. This is seriously his best role since Batman Begins — and maybe even further along than that.

Again, the carnage may be a bit much for fun (especially a school bus sequence). But if you can take this kind of entertainment — and you should — Hobo With a Shotgun is a smile-inducing thrill machine worth partaking. This is one bum you should definitely invest in.