Styling Rutger Hauer as a homeless vigilante with a vendetta and a shotgun seemed foolproof to me. Hauer has developed quite the CV over the years appearing in Blade Runner, The Hitcher and Sin City to name a few. I remember seeing the poster for Hobo with a Shotgun some time ago and also remember my disappointment when the Glasgow screening sold-out FAST. The hype grew from the initial trailer which became aligned with the Grindhouse package that led to Machete becoming a feature also. Hobo with a Shotgun sees the arrival in town of a homeless man who is immediately witness to a public execution before registering his disgust with a shotgun blast in the face of criminality. Get that on yer poster Eisener.
One thing captured well in the film is the aimless wandering of the homeless. You know that vacant stagger you see when passing a homeless person in the street? They never quite look like they know where they are going but I guess destinations are few and far between for the vagrant. We find out that Hobo has dreams of setting up a legit business as a lawnmower man (not to be confused with the film of the same name... he's probably never seen it. He is homeless after all). This proves difficult as money is hard to come-by except from through that new-age tradition of homeless men competing in bum-fights. A lucrative business when opposed to collecting plastic bottles. After completing various acts of degradation for an over-eager media-mogul, Hobo heads to purchase the lawnmower that will be the foundation of his legitimate venture. As is often the case with cinema all does not go according to plan. When things don't go according to plan for me I tend to end up late for work or with the wrong filling in my sandwich but when things don't go to plan for a hobo he usually ends up wielding a shotgun at various criminals, robbers and other undesirables as he clears the streets on behalf of the good people of Scum Town. If we learn anything from the film it is this.
The Hobo becomes somewhat of a cult hero to the public as his face covers the front page of the local newspaper for his daily crime-fighting exploits. This aggrieves local mega-villain The Drake who sets about forcibly removing the affable Hobo from his noble township.
Instead of having the feel of a Grindhouse homage in the vein of Machete, Death Proof et al, Hobo unfortunately feels more like the recent spate of cheap exploitation horror that has flooded our screens of late (see Zombie Women of Satan etc.). The main problem is the script. The opportunities offered by such a strong title and premise are never fulfilled. The Hobo character has an endless possibility when it comes to quotable lines but is instead limited to a few. Hauer's performance is excellent but is limited by the production. A few rants aside, Hauer is reserved by the nature of the films narrative which does not allow him the gleeful destruction that his eyes indicate he desires throughout. The film seems a bit confused as to what year/era it is based in. It is clear that the primary influence comes from films of the late seventies and eighties; I see Escape from L.A and The Warriors but also see the slimy villain James Spader made famous throughout that decade in The Drakes horrible sons. This is no bad thing, it's just the way the influence is utilised that is frustrating. $3 million is a decent budget for a production of this type and it feels that more could have been achieved with this.
The film didn't actually turn out as bad as i expected. I have to be honest, i wouldn't have argued if had been turned off after the first 10 minutes; they were not just disappointing but cliched and hard to watch. From there forward the film is almost apologising to us and I began to forgive it until the ending annoyed me further. What happens between the start and end is somewhat uninspired if mildly enjoyable. I couldn't buy into the villains who were over-stylised to the point of the ridiculous. The equivalent of the eighties bully with spiked hair and a leather jacket. Did nobody think to check that out? I went to school then and it was people of that description who were the victims of the bullies. I wish that school bullies dressed like Marlon Brando in The Wild One; I would have happily taken a beating knowing that I had at least come into close proximity of something that cool. Instead we suffered at the hand of plooky shell-suit wearing gang leaders with a penchant for pulling skinny kids trousers down.
You and me are goin' on a car-ride to hell... and you're riding shotgun!
http://ca.hobowithashotgun.com/
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