Dishy manflesh, Ryan Kwanten, stars alongside the deliciously fiesty, Freida Pinto, and a, er, not quite so aesthetic, Mickey Rourke, playing modern-day outlaw duelists, in director, Ken Sanzel's quirky, boisterously doolally, gun-crazy, refried, post-modern western. The South America-set, 'Blunt Force Trauma' is one zesty, lean n' mean gun show, which at its very best is a giddy, hyper-real mash-up of Ridley Scott's 'Duelists' channeling the Sex Pistols after imbibing one, or ten Mescals too many! This truly is one of the wackiest, blissfully unconventional iterations of a freak-beard actioner I have had the pleasure of viewing recently, and while far from perfect, to be fair, 'Blunt Force Trauma's' absurd premise did occasionally thwart one's ability to suspend disbelief, but when it worked, hot damn it worked!!! and it certainly made for one righteously rollicking, gung-ho, road-burning, sexy, six-shooting rodeo! Especially credible are the gunpowder-gutsy performances of our delectable, gun-crossed lovers, and I definitely got some super-heavy, geek lord-pleasing, Alex Cox vibes from this bullet-batso, Burrito-spicy B-movie, so if you favour a decidedly off-beat, artisan approach to your 'taciturn outlaw dude meets his equally ballistic, gun-toting beau, while bloodily dueling their way to Mickey Rourke's picturesque hillside hideaway for an existential show down' gun-fest, then this bullet-bruised, Teflon vest-shredding, serial-squinting spectacle might just hit the blood-red bull's-eye! And FYI, said trauma is NOT the deleterious effect, acting maestro, Mickey Rourke's fright-wig has upon the audience's sensibilities! Hey! Don't get me wrong, I love the goofy acting genius, and he'll always be the 'Motorcycle Boy' to me, but come on, big guy, lose the sketchy syrup, as yonder, 'Elton John meets Spider Baby fright-mare rug' 'aint a good look for a dude!
Plot summary
Follows the journey of John and Colt, gunfighters and sometimes lovers, on parallel but very different journeys through an underground dueling culture.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
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This bullet-bruised, Teflon vest-shredding, serial-squinting spectacle might hit the blood-red bull's-eye!
Bruises
If you get bruises, it means you felt something. For the longest times in this, it feels like ... nothing. While our main character struggles to explain what can not be explained, we get a second story line with the gorgeous and talented Freida Pinto. The ensuing love story is not the most believable you'll have seen. But it serves its purpose (killing time and establishing another character besides our main man).
Unfortunately not many things work in its favor here. The ending (which seems blurred, but I guess if you look closely enough you might be able to see something and if you still care have an opinion about it) will split the opinion many viewers will have. Rightfully so I think. Watch it if you don't expect much ...
Good but it could have been great
This was an entertaining tale about underworld gun-dueling in South America but by the time Mickey Rourke showed up, I'd already forgotten that he was even supposed to be in the film. The film starts abruptly and ends abruptly but I suspect that was all intentional. If you're not invested in one or more of the characters and their stories you could easily get lost in the narrative or get disinterested altogether. That said it was a decent watch, slow-paced at times but well worth the time spent on it. The beautiful Freida Pinto held her own as the leading lady and Ryan Kwanten was effective (though looked somewhat bored) in his role as her leading man. Blink and you'll miss two hot dirty cops get their ultimate comeuppance in the very entertaining first quarter of the film.