(1996) ****
The Gecko bros Seth and Richard are professional thieves. Well, they'd like to think they are. George Clooney succeeds in portraying yet another egotistic yet charming lead while Quentin Tarantino is cast perfectly alongside him as his lame sex-offender socially-awkward brother. Together they are evading the authorities and making their way to Mexico to find. . . I forget what.
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| Here's George Clooney with a gun... |
The truth is, for the first 48 minutes of this movie you think you're watching another cleverly written and directed action-crime movie. I thought I'd just wasted nearly an hour of my precious Horrorthon time. It isn't until the second half that monsters are whipped out, people are dying, and survivors are devising a way to stay alive and kill off said monsters. Although this movie doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, it still manages to be hilarious, watchable, and engaging.
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| and Quentin Tarantino with a gun... |
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| and Juliette Lewis with a gun... |
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| even Harvey Keitel gets a gun! |
The players in
Dusk Til Dawn are 100% committed to what they are doing, no matter how ridiculous the plot gets or how many people are holding guns. Juliette Lewis is, I believe, one of the most underrated actresses and no matter who she's portraying, you are always in tune with her emotions, her motive, and her soul. Harvey Keitel is another overlooked actor in my generation, but he definitely makes his mark as Lewis' father and a former priest turned badass. Then there's Salma Hayek, who needs neither introduction nor praise because everyone already knows how beautiful and diverse her roles are. (I'm not saying this in spite; I once saw her gave a great interview on Conan O'Brien that indicated to me that her wit matches her beauty, and I think she's a great role model for aspiring young Latinas, whether they want to be an actress or a businesswoman.)
I felt like this movie is a great keeper for anybody who likes a good action movie. The effects are great and it doesn't get too scary and in the spirit of Rodriguez films, it's just plain fun.
3 comments:
I used to have this on VHS and I played it so much that the tape eventually wore out and snapped. Pretty much a flawless movie in my estimation. Not only were all the lead actors great as you mentioned, but there is some delightful work from Tom Savini, Cheech Marin and Danny Trejo to boot!
Killer soundtrack too.
Wholeheartedly agree with both of you it's a fantastic film. Nice review glad you enjoyed it.
Yeah, this movie is great. Were it a little less sloppy at times I'd say it rated 5 stars.
I also love both Juilette Lewis and Harvey Keitel, but I don't think either of them are underrated. I can remember when nobody could shut up about how great they are, myself included. My guess is it's an issue of timing. I graduated college the year Cape Fear came out (w/ Lewis) and Reservoir Dogs and The Bad Lieutenant came out a year later. They were both riding a wave for the first part of that decade.
At some point JL kind of bailed on acting to be a rock star, although I see by her imdb page that she's kept busy.
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