At first I thought this was a Comedy
its that Bad, unfortunately I think the makers and actors where "serious"
2 out of 10
When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...
While it's not an out-and-out comedy, it's not exactly serious drama either. I didn't see it as taken too seriously. The "piggy-back assault" in the Viet Nam sequences, for instance, is just far too bizarre (especially in how "dramatic" it was presnted) to be anything done in a straight faced vein. And the entire reason for watching the movie, the last 20 minutes where the good guys fight the cult, is full of delicious, signature Raimi and co. slapsticky graphic violence.
The movie is kind of amateurish sometimes, the acting's not exactly top shelf - but it's entertaining. The hand to hand fighting is gloriously stagy but kind of charming, the almost single location is guised enough to not to be noticed on a first viewing, and while the gags and effects are lo-fi they're fairly inventive.
I just don't see how anyone even would take it 100 % seriously - especially by the time we get to "never touch the sacrificial fluids, okey dokey?" It's a lark. There's some arch stuff with the one guy's guilt over the op gone bad in Nam, and the love story is perfunctory and weak, but I don't see it as a serious statement about readjusting veterans taking on a society gone wrong that they no longer recognize. It's a Viet Nam vets vs. Manson-esque cult exploitation movie. The Losers has more legit social commentary.
Good post, Rusturges. I would agree with your assessments.
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