Dir. Jason Eisner, USA, 90mins, 2011
Cast: Rutger Hauer, Gregory Smith, Brian Downey, Molly Dunsworth
Review by Matthew Rodgers
Suffering from Grindhouse exploitation fatigue, Hobo with a Shotgun is probably the best of the stylised, trashy throwback movement of recent times. It completely embraces the low-rent aesthetics through necessity rather than choice, in the style of the awful Machete and the all too smug Tarantino projects. It does however remain a repetitively grimy bore, only punctuated by moments of riotously grisly gore and a solid turn from the artillery wielding Rutger Hauer.
Drifting into a new town on a cargo train, a hobo (Hauer) jumps from the carriage and into a dystopian urban hell, which is run by a family of caricature gangsters. After a pawn shop epiphany convinces him to abandon his dream and buy a shotgun, he vows to clean up the town. And it’s as simple as that.
As with all such genre efforts, Hobo with a Shotgun is a single joke stretched to feature length breaking point. Originally an entry to a trailer competition run by the Aint It Cool website, its online popularity and movie encompassing trailer (which as with similar fare is more coherent and enjoyable than the final film) allowed the clearly talented Eisner room to breathe and a budget. So in amongst the man hole cover decapitations and an accident which will make you think very carefully about using the lawnmower, the gaps are filled with attempts at a paternal relationship between the hobo and a teenage prostitute. It’s a derivative device when it comes to vigilante hero films that echo Taxi Driver and Leon without ever reaching their respective heady heights, but it does provide an otherwise threadbare and farcical revenge plot with some much needed audience interaction beyond the “eughs” and “ooohs” of flying limbs.
The main reason for watching this is Hauer; an incredible screen presence, who peaked on a rain caressed rooftop in Bladerunner before descending into the kind of B-movie dross that Hobo is parodying. His hobo with a heart is vulnerable and easy to root for in a way that Machete wasn’t. Defeated by life, he clings onto the notion of a dream and it is that which elevates the character and Hauer’s performance above the cartoonish gimmick that this Grindhouse homage is aiming for. There’s no denying that it would be a great success at a late night, alcohol fuelled screening in London’s Prince Charles Cinema with all the hollering and hooting enhancing the enjoyment, but taken as a movie it deserves both barrels for being juvenile tosh.
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