Movie Review: From Dusk till Dawn
It’s like Natural Born Killers mixed with Tales from the Crypt
From Dusk til Dawn
NO SPOILERS!
Seth Gecko (George Clooney) and his brother Richard (Quentin Tarantino) are bank robbers on the run who have left a trail of death and misery. On their way to the Mexican border they come across an RV driving preacher and his kids, which are held captive by the brothers to make their escape over the border. Their night of freedom is short lived, as the bar that they were told to meet is secretly a vampire hideout.
From Dusk till Dawn was directed by Robert Rodriguez, but Quentin Tarantino was the one who wrote the screenplay. The combination of these two directors/writers has given us some classic grindhouse films that would be most fitting for the drive-in movie theater genre. This film is no different, as they have put their efforts on making a vampire movie with good makeup and effects, but still use their formula of grit and splatter shots. What I really like about this movie is that these are Aztec Vampires, and Rodriguez has taken the mythology to do something more fun and creative than what we expect from other vampire movies.
George Clooney's character is more direct and doesn’t show much emotion, like George Clooney himself, so his performance was most fitting for the role. Quentin Tarantino’s character is a messed up trigger-happy rapist, which he displays adequately. The film portrays a diverse cast later on and is quite refreshing. Actors like Cheech Marin, Salma Hayek, Tom Savini, Danny Trego, and Fred Williamson were actors that played small roles, but managed to spice up the film with fun and charisma. The Preacher and his family that are main characters just felt like cannon fodder to move the film along.
The film does well in the beginning at the convenience store, with the Tarantino flare to get the audience to expect that $#!+ is going down. When the preacher and his kids feel like an anchor that weigh down the excitement and edge of the film. There is not much to the settings, except when they arrive to bar. The bar is where the movie is put back in drive with enough erotic nudity, blood splatter, and mayhem to make this movie worth seeing. The people who made the bar deserve an award for what they built, as the color and decorations are spectacularly highlighted and captivating.
I am glad I saw this film, but it didn’t move me as much as I thought it would. I don’t think it was bad, but there were long dull moments, especially in the first half of the film, where there wasn’t much of anything. There are moments where I can see this movie could offend a lot of women, but those scenes are done with such stylish editing that I can’t help but describe it as, “graphic artistry”. This movie is a homage to the likes of Tales from the Crypt, in the sense that it feels like a B-rated horror film that is well crafted. This is the type of film that I would recommend to guys who are fans of Rodriguez and Tarantino.