Customer Reviews
Another over-the-top camp Tarantino-inspired farce with guns - By: Enduction Hour, 23 Sep 2008 
I had no idea what this film was about when I started watching it, & was drawnin quickly by the tale of the violent & charismatic Clooney & the even more violent but decidedly less uncharismatic Tarantino as they make an unholy mess & escaped to Mexico. The family led by Keitel gets caught upin the criminals plans & the tension is really well done. Unlike another reviewer here, I really did sympathise with the position of the family & was genuinely hooked on what was going to happen to them all.
Sadly, the film for me ended up degenerating into the usual melange of gaudy visuals, one-speed pacing & bludgeoning pop-video action. Such a waste. You can see the moment when the film jumps the shark exactly - when Chet Pussy (Cheech Marin) is calling for punters outside the Titty Twister & suddenly breaks the fourth wall & addresses the audience directly to a camera at his feet. From then on you know that all sense of reality has gone & with it all the tension. It doesn't matter what happens to the characters any more because we're not supposed to believe that the movie is anything but a silly diversion, & the characters anything but props for the action, or moving mouthpieces for the writers one-liners. The film makers are free to off as many characters as they likein as stupid a way as possible, all the while having them wise cracking & completely unaffected by it all. God forbid that we should have any investmentin the plot or the people! It's movie-making for the 30-second-attention-span generation.
Anyway,each to their own, blah blah blah. I know a lot of people like all that about Tarantino & his acolytes. But for me it's a waste of a talented scriptwriter. When he writes tight & serious he's outstanding. There's more to a good movie than quotable lines & explosive eye-candy.
I readin some places that this could be taken as a "parody" of vampire/horror movies. Well, the thing about a parody is that it's supposed to send up the genre it's parodying & be funny because *you know it's a parody*. Unfortunately, with vampire movies (and modern horrorin general) it's hard to tell a parody from a standard movie, as the whole genre lapses into self-parody most of the time anyway.
Allin all, it did what it was supposed to do - it was loud, entertaining on a superficial level, & utterly untroubling. I forgot it as soon as it finished & went on with my life as though nothing had happened. Movie as fast-food! Yay!
STARTS OUT AS A GOOD FILM... - By: Lou Almighty, 14 Jul 2008 
...but ends up as a piece of crap.
Sorry, but this film is not good. It started out as a decent gangster movie & should have kept this path. There was enough potential here to make this Rodriguez' best film, but why did he have to bringin the vamps to make it a slayfest & ruin this? George Clooney & Quentin Tarantino were so great as the two Geckos brothers & the beginning scene was just awesome. What a pity.
Death by disco-ball. - By: DangermouseZilla, 27 Mar 2008 
This starts off as a very stylish film, & George Clooney is on top form. He seems to be relishing the role & and his energy comes through strong throughout the film. Harvey Keitel has great on screen presense & the initial scenes with him & Clooney practically sizzle.
The characters are magnetic & I struggled to pull my eyes from the screen, up to a point anyway...
We go from stylish gangster/roadtrip flick to comedy horror - & it's a great twist. The comedy violence is delightfully gory & I half expected Bruce Campbell to make an appearance! But then it seems to drag a bit, maybe it's just because the first half of the film has such a great pace - the latter half starts off funny but the joke starts to wear a bit thin.
It was great to see a film not take itself seriously though. From the very first scene to the final moments, the film is a jolly, a frolic, something to watch & unashamedly enjoy.
In a nutshell: The film is implausible & it knows it, it uses this to entertain & introduce aspects you simply don't expect. It is well casted & very much unique.
A film of two halves both great. - By: genejoke, 01 Mar 2008 
For me this is George Clooneys finest movie, & for that matter Quentin Tarantinos too. George is on great form as a clever but bad ass thief, think of a hard version of Danny Ocean from oceans 11 12 & 13.
I remember I first heard about this from a friend who thought that pulp fiction was the best thing ever & he watched it because it was a script by QT. He had seen it the night before & hated it with a passion. I asked him why & he said it was started ok then turned into a cheesy b-movie. To me it sounded ok so I checked it out, & glad I am that I did. Genius.
1 star is being nice - By: P. J. Stevenson, 17 Jan 2008 
I'm going to go against the grain here & slate this film. There are some very good actorsin this film, & directers, who should have been able to produce a better film than this. This is a BAD trashy horror film, that could have been made by anyone. I only bought it because it was partly directed by Tarantino. I sujest if you want a GOOD trashy horror, watch Planet Terror. George & Tarantino play bad ass robers, & the film is doing ok. Half way though the film, the seen completely changes with too much over the top blood, explosions & latex, then all of a sudden george's character changes & seems 'nice', whats going on? This film is over the top, &in a bad way. Seems to me to be just another film, made too quickly, with no real thought going into it, throwin a few famous names & hollywood explosions & hopefully it will make a few bucks. Only my opinion but i sujjest you buy something else. (My rant is now over).
