Seen: June 24th, 2007
Format: DVD (Pan and Scan)
Rating: 5
This is leftover from the driving movies I started watching after seeing Grindhouse. It's been sitting around for a while and I finally got around to watching it.
Glad I wasn't excited about it.
There's nothing really wrong with this film, but by the same token, there's very little right about it either. The story is run of the mill at best. It's not really a driving picture, nor a moonshiner picture either. It's really just a simple revenge picture set in the south with those trappings. Even this wouldn't be a problem if it really went somewhere. But it doesn't stray form the mold.
That's a shame, because there's something to work with here. Reynolds does a decent turn and this picture did help his career. Bo Hopkins is good, but underused. Ned Beatty was just coming into his game at this point. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of the script, none of these actors really get a chance to break out of the limitations placed on their characters.
Southern stereotypes abound here. There's little that we don't know about any character that isn't shown within the first five minutes we see them. The possible exception here may be Lou, who actually may be a bit deeper than we give her credit for.
All the same, this isn't a terrible film. There are few decent chases, some fights, and some pictures of life in the South that are accurate, if not appealing. It's not a bad picture, just one that could have been a good bit deeper and more rounded.
The Good: Burt Reynolds
The Bad: Having the boat shot out from under you
The Ugly: Riding on Stereotypes
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