★ 4 / 10
Not one of Ryan Nicholson's better projects...but
Mike_T-Little_Mtn_Sound_Archive
The other reviews are spot on. This is not one of Ryan's Nicholson's better works. That said, if the entire movie was as captivating and stylish as the last…
The other reviews are spot on. This is not one of Ryan's Nicholson's better works. That said, if the entire movie was as captivating and stylish as the last 1/3, it would be rated higher. No synopsis provided here, but comments on production.
The first 2/3 of the movie moves at a slow pace and is marred with some poor acting performances by at least half the characters. Not in the way that typifies other Nicholson movies, which is usually part camp part scene, rather just bad acting. The lead actors performances are fairly solid throughout and more indicative of what is expected from Nicholson's people.
Along with the acting and pace, there is no real action of any kind in the first 2/3. Thankfully the entire movie is less than 75 minutes from start to finish, but it does drag through the first part.
Once the movie reaches the place of interest - and the viewer knows immediately, based on dialog - the flow, script, and acting all pick up, as does the action. This is not to say that it suddenly becomes good, only that it is an improvement over earlier scenes. Plus, the climax offers a unique occurrence (I'll leave it at that).
The special fx are, for the most part, very cheesy and unrealistic, though there are a couple scenes with decent examples. These scenes also, coincidentally, are the only places with gore, and while they are not over the top, they are certainly more graphic than much of the early scenes with only blood.
In all, Star Vehicle is not a complete waste, as there are some redeeming qualities to it, but it should be noted that expectations should be tapered if compared to other Nicholson flicks. As noted multiple times, the last 1/3 of the flick is better. In actuality, had it not been for this development of pace and on-screen action, the movie would have been a bust; the last 1/3 literally saved the entire flick.
Regarding content:
only moderate violence, most of which is not directly visible onscreen, and only a couple scenes of (light) "gore."there are multiple scenes of nudity, but it is not rampant throughout the film. Multiple shots with female breasts, and one brief scene of full front female nudity.moderate to slightly above moderate profanity. The last 1/3 yields increased profanity, as is fitting to the pace of the film.
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★ 8 / 10
An enjoyable and dark genre effort
kannibalcorpsegrinder
Tasked with driving stars to and from movie sets, a driver taking the cast and crew of a low-budget horror shoot to and from their lodgings discovers his…
Tasked with driving stars to and from movie sets, a driver taking the cast and crew of a low-budget horror shoot to and from their lodgings discovers his favorite actress is involved and tries to win her over, but when his actions anger and upset the crew takes out his anger in graphic ways.
Overall, this was quite an intriguing and enjoyable genre effort. Among the films' better features is the strong setup that gives us an intriguing psychological character study on the guy throughout here. Giving this one an incredibly thorough take on his obsession and demented attraction to the genre and the art of movie-making from the very start with the amount of trivia and knowledge about the industry he provides that should send off clues about who he is but doesn't, there's a very strong grip on his character and personality quite earlier on that works quite well here. Even the later scenes of him trying to worm his way into her life, while perhaps done innocently with the attempts to initiate a conversation about her career and the resulting shoot, go even further towards enhancing that factor of the film. Since this all manages to provide a sense of who he is and what he's all about, the longer the shoot carries on and the more time he spends around her the eventual snap becomes all the more obvious and fun. The fact that he spends as much time talking smack about the film and the history of the girls' work to anyone and everyone on set gives this a perfect point to bring about how his instability eventually leads to the deranged rampage he carries out in the second half where he goes crazy through the cast and crew killing them one-by-one before finally abducting the main group that upset him which results in a psychotic spree torturing and killing them which is quite over-the-top and features tons of great splattery gore overall. These here give this one a lot to like that holds it up overall. There isn't much to dislike here with the film. The main drawback is the seemingly bizarre manner in which his antics go unreprimanded for as long as he is as the kind of interaction he provides on a film set would've gotten him kicked off far earlier than what he did. Picking fights with anyone on the set of a film shoot, openly calling the director's work trash and uninspired, or just generally giving off a creeper's vibe is all questionable that would automatically make any crew suspicious of him and there's little he does to fix it so why he lasted as long as he did before the snap is a little questionable. As well, there's the random reveal of the stalker at the end of the film which just seems thrown in for no reason other than to have a hero's redemption sequence when it would be highly suspicious someone who carry out the plan they do at the point it occurs which isn't realistic. Otherwise, there's quite a lot to like with this one.
Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Full Nudity, and a Rape.
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80%
AUDIENCE
3.5/10
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