The ultimate homage to the low-budget exploitation thriller, Hobo with a Shotgun is a cacophony of blood, gore, and violence...though little else.
Hobo with a Shotgun is one of those films you take interest in purely because of its name. With a name like that, you pretty much know precisely what it’s going to be, and in that respect, it doesn’t disappoint. There are no minced words here, there’s a hobo, he has a shotgun, he uses said shotgun. Overall, I was rather excited to crack this badboy open and see the ridiculousness within. I was greeted with what I expected, joyfully low-budget violence with the tongue placed firmly within the cheek; by the end I felt that my stupidity quota had been filled for the day. That said, I came away not as totally satisfied as I would have hoped.
Hobo with a Shotgun follows well... an unnamed Hobo (played by a delightfully enraged Rutget Hauer), as he enters a new town on the railway tracks, a new town in urban chaos, run by mob bosses and criminals, where the cops are as corrupt as the scum on the streets. The way this is portrayed is bordering on post-apocalyptic and is reminiscent of something out of The Clockwork Orange, or possible the alternate 1985 from Back to the Future II (though much less child-appropriate to watch) and other such dystopian futures. I rather enjoyed this stylised dystopian vibe, and it is set up rather early on in the most brutal of fashion. Here we are introduced to The Drake, the crazed crime boss played by Brain Downey, and his two similarly insane sons, Slick and Ivan (Played by Gregory Smith and Nick Bateman respectively). After saving a prostitute, Abby (played by Molly Dunsworth), from harm, and feeling the ‘wrong’ side of the law, our law abiding Hobo puts aside his aim of buying a lawn mower (...yeah don’t ask me either), acquires a shotgun and proceeds to go on a city wide killing spree wasting pimps, robbers, and even a paedophile father Christmas, retaking the city for its people, ‘one shell at a time’. Obviously he is soon entwined with The Drake and his sons and eventually a metal clad duo called ‘the plague’ of seemingly hellish origins. All this is carried out in gallons of fake blood and intentionally low-budget special effects.
It is obviously this ludicrous violence that is the main attraction here, and those seeking it won’t be disappointed. Heads will roll, or be crushed, or be smashed, arms will be grinded, or broken, and of course, many, many, people will be shot in the face by a Hobo with a Shotgun, all accompanied with gallons of fake blood. Said violence is an absolute constant throughout the film and there is rarely a moment where there isn’t some form of gratuitous violence. That said, for the most part, said violence is all carried out with such ludicrous vigour and utter absurdity in its conduct that it never really gets disturbing, while the intentionally low budget vibe of this violence seemed to me intended less to shock, but more to humour, at least in most cases. That said, it probably isn’t a film you’d want to watch with your mother. Overall, the action certainly isn’t smart, but the sheer brute force of it, and its sheer stupidity, will certainly garner some enjoyment. In some instances though, I felt as if it went a little too far, even for me, bordering on torture pornesque in its approach. It seemed to me that the focus of the film was the violence, while the plot, and the ridiculous dialogue taking a back seat. Now I enjoy the odd bit pointless violence now and then, but in some instances I felt it was a bit overbearing here, at least for me.
Meanwhile, once you more beyond the violence, the gore, and the blood, there isn’t really that much to get excited about. The dialogue is as smart and subtle as the action. With each sentence trying to be more ludicrous than the last, with as many f words as can possible fit within a sentence. Some of this worked, some of it didn’t, and in some cases I felt as if it was a little forced. I certainly didn’t enjoy it as much as that within fake-trailer-to-theatre-release brethren, Machete. There the dialogue seemed to be given a little more panache, a little more emphasis on actual jokes and seemed less intent upon filling every line with as many offensive words as possible.
The actors themselves are all doing there level best to be a crazy and over the top as possible, which was nice to see, even if it doesn’t always come off that well. Rutger Hauer plays the gravely unnamed Hobo with a certain vigour, though for the most part (apart from one particular speech to some babies and some great one liners) he is a blank slate which is either subjecting violence, or having violence subjected to him.
Overall, I had a good time with ‘Hobo’, though perhaps not as much as I was hoping. It certainly doesn’t top that of its compadre Machete, which I seem to be using more and more as bench mark of happy stupidity. Perhaps this is an unfair comparison, for they are certainly different films, and Machete was blessed with a rather stellar cast. For me, it just felt as if there was a certain something lacking in ‘Hobo’, something that would have made the 82 minutes of gore seem more worthwhile, or at least more fun. If you are a fan of gratuitous violence, you should certainly enjoy a lot that Hobo with a Shotgun has to offer. But in most other respects, you may find it somewhat lacking.
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