“Hobo with a Shotgun’s” style is a Sam Peckinpah shoot-‘em-up western and/or a B-grade “grind house” flick. It’s a bloody gore-fest not intended to be taken seriously by former lead actor Rutger Hauer (1968’s“The Hitcher”). After years of obscurity in supporting roles, he comes into his own reinventing himself in this fun take-off on violent movies and is a howling success. The aptly named Hobo is a whiskery, soused, beer gut vagrant who could become savior of the oppressed. He hops off a freight train in a town ruled by The Drake (Brian Downey), a sleaze-ball with two strong-arm, psycho sons, Slick (Gregory Smith) and Ivan (Nick Bateman), and then is tossed out like a bag of trash by the sadist criminals. He stands up to fight with the titular shotgun, joined by good-hearted resident hooker, Abby (Molly Dunsworth), whose life he saves, and wages an almost one-man war against the human vermin.
The 2011 Sundance Film Festival entry directed by Jason Eisener is over-the-top with cartoon violence. Rutger Hauer carries “Hobo” from start to finish and is on the ball as he’s off-the-wall. He has a straight face with a twinkle in a crinkled eye and appears to enjoy every bloody minute in the tongue-in-cheek, campy tribute to Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez’ (2007) “Grindhouse.”
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