Well, first off, we went to see it at the Alamo Drafthouse cinema. That's the place that serves food and drink while you watch the movie. They're also known for staging live events to go with the opening night of a movie. So, when we showed up 45 minutes before showtime, I was not surprised to see a stage with live music being played set up in the lobby. When we stepped into the theater, however, I was surprised...
To help introduce the movie (which features lots of scantily clad exotic dancers, prostitutes, etc.) the stage in front of the screen was set up with a pole dancer on one end and a screen dancer on the other. Yes, a scantily clad woman was dancing around a pole on one end of the stage while on the other end another scantily clad woman was dancing behind a backlit screen. They were dressed... no nudity... just lots of tight leather revealing not quite enough to shut them down. Shortly after we sat down, the two dancers were replaced by two other dancers, and we realized that the dancers were actually the waitresses. Which I thought was kind of neat, because then they were walking among the seats taking and delivering orders while just as scantily clad. Very neat...
Where was I? Oh, yes, the movie itself. Well, it's violent. Extremely violent: shootings, knifings, beheadings, child rape, adult rape, cannibalism... serial killing, revenge killing, contract killing... executions, electrocution, accidental and deliberate death, dismemberment, mayhem of every sort. There's also occasional casual female nudity, but that's not why this movie got it's well-deserved "R" rating. The violence is the reason.
All that being said, it's an excellent movie. Yes, the violence is over the top, as is the film-noir-ish dialogue, but the acting is mostly good to great and the action is non-stop. The special effects are eye catching, and the editing does a good job of interweaving three stories (and two bookends at the start and end) which take place over a stretch of 8 years or so.
So, if you're at all squeamish, don't go. If you don't mind sick, violent stories about sick and violent people, then go and enjoy it. We did!
Oh... uhm, Elijah Woods is in the movie. He plays a very, very sick and violent person who fully deserves the grisly death he receives. And that's all I'm going to say about that...
Hmmm.... doesn't sound like I'd like it... I thought Rocky was too violent ;~D
Is the violence in the 'comic book' style or in the live action sequences? I'd read a review in the NY Times today, and they didn't think much of it, but I didn't read the nitty-gritty of it. I'll go back and do that before I decide whether to take the kids or not.
Heh. I watched MST3K's version of "Wild World of Batwoman." I need to get a life.