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Rutger Hauer, Molly Dunsworth, Gregory Smith, Brian Downey, Nick Bateman (II)

A train rolls into its final stop. From one of the freight cars jumps a weary-eyed transient with dreams of a fresh start in a new town. Instead, he lands smack-dab in the middle of an urban hellhole,... read more read more... a place where the cops are crooked and the underprivileged masses are treated like insignificant animals. This is a city where crime reigns supreme, and the man pulling the strings is known only as "The Drake." Along with his two cold-blooded and sadistic sons, Ivan and Slick, he rules with an iron fist, and nobody dares fuck with The Drake, especially not some hobo. Director Jason Eisener's blood-soaked return to the Sundance Film Festival is more than just a nod to the grindhouse flicks of the 1970s and '80s; he ups the ante in a major way, and Rutger Hauer's performance is a legendary display of brutal ass-kicking and meticulous name-taking that is not to be missed. -- (C) Magnet

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59% liked it

17,357 ratings

Critics

67% liked it

108 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 26 min.

Directed by: Jason Eisener

Release Date: May 6, 2011

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DVD Release Date: July 5, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (2,405)

  • aquateen2
    April 1, 2012
    aquateen2
    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img]

    An incredibly brave and intense film, Hobo with a Shotgun is one of the best films of the year. Even beating films such as The Artist, Rango and Attack the Block, it's a great movie that's fully aware of ... read morehow disgusting and un-cinematic it is and is without a doubt top quality for the audience it's going for. Trust me when I say it's front cover is entirely truthful of what it is. Hobo is an exploitation film reviving a sub genre of horror B movies that existed primarily in the 70's and 80's with irresistably vile charcteristics and a name that's not in the slightest glamourous or sophisticated. Although it is a fantastic gorefest and a grindhouse dream for horror fans it's accesible to anyone because it doesn't lack for heart. You might be surprised with yourself when you realise you actually care for this character. A homeless person running riot killing people. I was amazed when I made that discovery. It packs plenty of firepower horribly and disturbingly, in the best possible way. 5 Stars.
  • bbcfloridabound
    March 1, 2012
    bbcfloridabound
    7 minutes into this movie and you know its pretty sick. If your into trash, this is your movie. 1/2 Star
  • paulkoh110
    February 21, 2012
    paulkoh110
    Funny as hell! The villains are so evil to their core and the hobo is well...very hoboish.
  • 366weirdmovies
    February 4, 2012
    366weirdmovies
    A hobo (played by the wonderfully grizzled Rutger Hauer) rides the rails into "Scumtown" and pushed into grabbing a shotgun and sweeping the streets clean of pimps, pushers and child molesters, Better than most grindhouse homages because it leaves the postmodern winking to the s... read moreide and plays it (mostly) straight-faced, depending on the ridiculous of the style and situation to make its jokes for it. With one film Jason Eisner has made the movie Troma studios had been trying, and failing, to produce for more than 20 years now.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    September 15, 2011
    DragonEyeMorrison
    Well, it's pretty much impossible to give a very low rating to a movie with Rutger Hauer killing lunatics with a shotgun, but Hobo is no classic grindhouse material either. It has some fun moments, but the Troma-esque over the top bad guys are tedious to watch, and the make the w... read morehole movie feel like a very forced cartoon of the grindhouse spirit.
  • cosmo313
    August 18, 2011
    cosmo313
    Dear God. This movie.....as far as contemporary grindhouse films (and homages to the mgo), this is one of the better ones. It's also one of the sickest, most violent, and disturbing films I've seen in quite a while, perhaps ever.

    It's also really entertaining, sometimes quite fu... read moren, and actually pretty well made for what it is. It's a solid B movie, and that's also the grade it gets (for now). The story is pretty basic and concerns a nameless hobo who rides the rails into the ironically named city of Hopetown- an urban wasteland overrun by corruption, vileness, and degradation. He takes it upon himself to clean up the place using vigilante justice, with a shotgun as his primary tool.

    Rutger Hauer gives a solid performance as the Hobo, and actually delivers delivers some monologues that help elevate the film from being purely a trashy exploitation fest. Molly Dunsworth makes her film debut as a hooker with a heart of gold who teams up with the hobo after they help one another out. Brian Downey, Gregory Smith, and Nick Bateman all chew the scenery superbly as the megalomaniacial kingpin and two equally sick sons who all control the city.

    Despite being absolutely sick and disgusting ,the effects are really well done, hence their effectiveness. All of the violence is ridiculous and over the top (and almost non stop), but while most of it is supposed to be lighter in tone, some of it actually does become truly sick and disturbing tonally. Even then though, there's a lot of inventiveness to the kills, featuring some stuff I've never seen before, but kinda liked. The film overall is very stylish, featuring all kinds of garish lighting, a mish mash of various styles, and some truly odd set pieces (such as a twisted take on the Last Supper).

    This film knows what it is, and isn't trying to be high art. There's a bit of room for some subtext, and you wouldn't have to do a whole lot of reaching to make your case in that regard. This is mostly just supposed to be a demented homage to trashy 70s exploitation flicks, and in that regard, it is highly successful, and not only that, but it firmly earns its place amongst the films it is paying tribute to.

    If you are going to see this, and you should (at least once), just be prepared for some really messed up violence, revolting gore, and perhaps have a few drinks before hand.
  • CreedsDelight
    August 16, 2011
    CreedsDelight
    Well, what did you expect? The film is what the title says, this is a 90 minute film about a 'Hobo With a Shotgun'. I enjoyed the film for the most part, being that it is an adaption of a thrown away 'Grindhouse' trailer. Rutger Hauer is pretty much the only thing memorable about... read more this movie, who is simply brilliant and downright hilarious in one of his most gruesome roles yet. The supporting cast is just embarrassing, as well as bad actors. Also, it's hard for me to respect a movie where two brothers set a bus of children on fire, in a very graphic way. The action is fine too watch, but it's not like we've never seen it before. As this is the fourth 'Grindhouse' released, it is not my favorite (that goes to 'Planet Terror'), but it is certainly not the worst (that goes to 'Death Proof'). I absolutely loved the old fashioned messed up color saturation, as well as the endless amount of cheesy dialogue. Still, I felt they could have done a bit more with the Hobo himself as we are only presented with one "fun" scene in which the Hobo rampages through the town. Unfortunately, it does not last very long. Despite those flaws, I had a good amount of fun watching this film, and as I mentioned, Rutger Hauer makes 'Hobo With a Shotgun' worth watching. Recommended.
  • phubbs1
    August 6, 2011
    phubbs1
    Second film to be made from the small collection of trailers from the Tarantino/Rodriguez collaboration 'Grindhouse'. The first 'Machete' was a loud in your face mess but was just about watchable down to the brilliant character of Machete and the use of Trejo, this second film is... read more again loud and in your face but isn't quite as fun as 'Machete' for me.

    OK so I accept that the film is a no bars hold violent revenge/vigilante thriller with the usual amounts of claret on show that I would now come to expect from RR and Tarantino but this film travels down a route that is really quite nasty and slightly disturbing frankly.

    Yes the violence is very comicbook and of course very silly in places, plenty of gun killing going on much like say...'Robocop' with big bullet wounds and blood pumping out all over, the issue I had with the film is the quite nasty violence that was maybe just a step too far. A good example of this was when one of the bad guys kills a school bus load of kids by burning them all to death with a flamethrower inside the bus.

    The style of the film is actually a good idea having a hobo go around cleaning up a rotten town, quite the classic concept, Hauer as the hobo was a great casting choice with his grizzled old face much like a grizzled Clint, he staggers around and takes bad guys out with sharp dialog. The look and design is of course grindhouse/exploitation and a homage to all those old crappy flicks, personally I really don't like those kind of flicks as I always just took them for cheap films simply trying to squeeze in tits n ass for the hell of it, if you want that then you might as well watch a porn flick. Anyway, there is a certain 'Crow' vibe going on in this film if you ask me, the extreme unique badguy characters, the dingy lighting with only afew colours used and of course the vigilante theme.

    I think this film could of been a much better film had it been made more sensibly without the grindhouse aspect and less ridiculous violence, I like the idea of a hobo going around being the no name hero, its simple and works. This film has its good moments but also has many silly moments too, the worst being 'the Plague' that look like characters out of 'Monty Pythons Holy Grail' and go around killing absolutely anyone including staff in a hospital, at that point the terms 'less is more' or 'over the top' spring to mind despite it being deliberately so. Starts off well but slowly degenerates into a showcase for shock value or bodycount and trying to spill the highest amount of blood ever.
  • WrenchLT
    August 5, 2011
    WrenchLT
    A deliberately trashy carnage-fest which see's Rutger Hauer as a wandering homeless drifter who arrives at a town where crime and fear have replaced harmony and police law. Sick of the injustice he witnesses, he decides to paint the town red with the blood of the sadistic gang th... read moreat pulls the strings behind the anarchy on its streets.

    The film has a surprising amount of bloody violence and gore for a non-horror picture with bloody shotgun impacts, disembowlments and decapitations a taste of what features in this grimy vigilante themed actioner. It's been given the 'grindhouse' treatment in homage to other exploitation films of its type from the 70s and early 80s which was very effective for this film in particular given the subject matter. Special mention also to Rutger Hauer who was perfect in his role and despite the crazy very black humourous tone of the film he manages to be a sympathetic character who adds some humanity to the film as he befriends a prostitute he saved from the streets. Overall I thoght this was a complete ultraviolent blast from start to finish. There's nothing much to it, it is what it is... but it is awesome!
  • blkbomb
    July 22, 2011
    blkbomb
    Hobo: You and me are goin' on a car-ride to hell... and you're riding shotgun! 

    I have to say, I'm a little disappointed with Hobo With a Shotgun. It was one of the movies I've been excited to see for awhile and it just didn't thrill me as much as I hade originally thought it wo... read moreuld. With that said, it's still a decent and fun exploitation film. 

    The movie is full of bloody carnage and inventive kills. And at the end of the day that's all I could really ask for when going into a movie called Hobo With a Shotgun. Rutger Hauer plays that Hobo and although there is nothing exceptional about his performance; he gets the job done. 

    The film is completely insane and over-the-top. It's characters are eccentric to say the least. The Drake is one of the most over-the-top characters ever. He screams everything with his hands held up towards the sky. He takes his victims to the Glory Hole, which if your going to kill somebody, is a pretty damn cool way to do it. 

    Nothing here is exceptional or at anyway note-worthy, but you'll get what you expected. A fun ride behind the barrel of a shotgun.

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Critic Reviews

Colin Covert
June 23, 2011
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

The movie just blows chunks. Full Review

Ty Burr
May 26, 2011
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

A merrily blood-soaked homage to the vigilante action movies of the 1970s and early 1980s, "Hobo'' is a good idea in theory that's brought down by the banality of its practice. Full Review

Sean O'Connell
May 20, 2011
Sean O'Connell, Washington Post

"Hobo" breathes new life into the demented realm of grindhouse cinema - a world that had grown pretty stale to this point. Full Review

Steven Rea
May 19, 2011
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Even connoisseurs of the genre (and I confess, I'm not one) will find the cheesy chopfests and gratuitous gore less than exciting as one urban prosthetics-strewn bloodbath begets the next. Full Review

William Goss
May 11, 2011
William Goss, Film.com

What really puts this over-the-top extravaganza over the top is Hauer's ferocious and oddly sincere performance. Full Review

Roger Moore
May 10, 2011
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

A grim, visually ugly, intermittently funny-occasionally preachy piece with only the estimable Mr. Hauer to recommend it. Full Review

Mike Hale
May 6, 2011
Mike Hale, New York Times

Will leave most viewers bored and uneasy, especially in scenes like the burning alive of a busful of young children. Full Review

V.A. Musetto
May 6, 2011
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

Japan's Takashi Miike has the formula down pat, but Eisener has no idea how to give violence a touch of class. Full Review

Peter Travers
May 5, 2011
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

What's not to like? Full Review

Scott Tobias
May 5, 2011
Scott Tobias, NPR

The closest thing the film gets to a message? "When life gives you razor blades, you make a baseball bat covered in razor blades." Sounds like a quote for a Successories poster in hell. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Hobo: You smart and intelligent, you should be a teacher.
    • Abby: You can't solve all the world's problems with a shotgun.
    • Hobo: It's all I know.
    • Hobo: People look at you and hope the best for you, they want you to be something special- like a lawyer or a doctor. Truth is if you end up growing up around here you're more likely to be just be selling yourselfs on the street-or selling junk to crackheads! Or you could be just like me...... a hobo with a shotgun.
    • Slick: I'm gonna wash this blood off my face... with YOUR blood!
    • Hobo: Mother Teresa is a Goddamn saint!
    • Hobo: You and me are going on a car ride to Hell, and I'm riding 'shotgun'!
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