Hobo With A Shotgun

Hobo With A Shotgun is the most un-Canadian Canadian film I have ever seen in my entire life.  Look closely enough and you can see a predominantly Canadian cast (with distinct Maritime accents), hockey skates and even a Tim Horton's cup - but glossing over it all is an R-rated gorefest with more swearing than the South Park movie.

The story of how this film came about is an interesting one, so I'll touch on that briefly - when Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino decided to put together their love letter / homage to '70s B-Movies, Grindhouse together (Brilliant, by the by, if you haven't seen it - grab the full-length Blu-Ray with both films and the trailers... segue!) Robert Rodriguez decided to hold a contest - who can put together the most awesome B-Movie trailer based on an original idea.  Lo and behold, the winner was Jason Eisener, a Haligonian who spliced together footage of a homeless man blowing away criminals with a twelve-gauge.  Now, some four years after the fact, this trailer became the second fully-realized, feature length film to evolve from the 'fake trailers' of the Rodriguez / Tarantino double-cheesefest (following the similarly-themed and equally awesome Machete).

The story, such as it is, involves... well... a hobo... who rides into a pseudo-futuristic, nihilistic cityscape, witnesses a number of grotesqueries and then decides to "clean up the city - one shell at a time" with a shotgun that he manages to procure (fully loaded for no extra charge!) from a pawn shop.

The obvious comparison here is Machete, and where that film used the idea of illegal immigration as a conduit for an ironic, violent, over-the-top gorefest, this film uses the plight of the destitute... as a conduit for an ironic, violent, over-the-top gorefest.  That's right - Hobo With A Shotgun is a movie with a message - and it's about as subtle as a shotgun blast to the face.

As for the film itself, as mentioned, it's extremely violent and contains some scenes that, frankly, had me squirming a little bit.  It's also intentionally (and, at times, unintentionally) hilarious and chock-full of gratuitous (and completely impractical) nudity.  It's an out-and-out love affair to '70s Exploitation cinema (right down to the 'filmed in Technicolor' title card at the beginning - borrowing a page from Tarantino's own playbook) and it pulls it off in style.

Watch for Gregory Smith (from television's Everwood) playing a nigh-on satanic hellion as one of the Hobo's primary nemeses.  I seriously had to do a triple-take to make sure that it was the right kid because if any of you saw his show (and from the tragically-low ratings that it managed in its four season run, probably not many of you did) you would be absolutely blown away.   Additionally, Rutger Hauer as the title character brings an air of gravitas to his role - watching his overly-dramatic delivery of some of the more cornball lines is a delight.  You can almost see him winking at the camera.  Just great stuff all around.

The film gets a little surreal in the final act when it introduces two characters called collectively 'The Plague' (they look like a cross between The Gimp from Pulp Fiction and the player characters in the video game NARC) but it never really runs completely off the rails and the ending is satisfying enough.

Chances are, if you find yourself in a darkened movie theater on a Saturday afternoon with a ticket to see a film called Hobo With A Shotgun, you have at least some idea of what you're getting yourself into - and if that's the case, you'll likely be completely satisfied.  It's B-movie goodness at its best (worst?).


Geek Score: 8 out of 10 bacon strips

Note to my American friends - Hobo is apparently available via Video On Demand in some markets as of April 1st - check it out.  Additionally, a limited, scaling release is planned for mid-May. 

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What I'm Reading: Batman: RIP, Marvel Zombies