Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be checking out a splatter film from 2019. That movie is "VFW".
Now I remember seeing a trailer for this movie whenever I would pop in my copy of "Christmas Bloody Christmas" to watch every other Christmas. And the trailer looked rather interesting, so much so that I was lucky to find a copy of this movie at one of my local video stores for about $5. Which is totally cool because now I can actually cover this film for this series.
Now as for what I know about it, I do know it was made by and put out by the same distribution company that also put out "Christmas Bloody Christmas". Speaking of, I also know that it was directed and produced by a man named Joe Begos, who also wrote, produced, and directed "Christmas Bloody Christmas" as well. He doesn't have writing credit here, however. Which is probably for the best because, in case you never read my review for "Christmas Bloody Christmas", one of my main issues with that movie was the fact that the writing was basically just the characters swearing a lot by mainly just saying "fuck" and "shit". As long as this movie doesn't run into that same problem, the writing will probably be fine. Well, at least I hope so anyway.
I don't know if this movie is going to be any good, but I do have hopes that it will be at least decent. So, I may as well find out for myself if this film is worth watching at all. And the only way I'm gonna know that for sure is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "VFW".
18 minutes later
Well, guys, I don't really have a whole lot to say so far, because this movie hasn't given me much to work with. But I will say that I am really digging the atmosphere of this bar here. And this is coming from someone who almost never goes to bars, because they're so fucking noisy. But if more bars were like this, I would love to go to one and just chill out there for a while. It's actually really cool.
5 minutes later
OK, I have a rather dumb question here. So this girl here discovers the drugs inside a safe. And I should mention the safe is half open where anyone can take it. And sure enough, she's taking it for herself. Maybe not for the obvious reasons, but more so just to get away from whoever's controlling it. Why would you leave your safe open like that? I would think, maybe, these people had some kind of functioning brain and keep it locked up tight. Oh, and this head honcho finally discovers his stash is gone from the safe. Well dude, that probably wouldn't have happened if you kept the safe shut! Just saying, a little common sense wouldn't hurt none.
7 minutes later
Well, holy shit, it took him a bit, but that dude just crushed that other guy's head clean off! And I thought that shotgun blast from earlier when it exploded a head was brutal, but that one was definitely more brutal than I thought. Damn.
2 minutes later
Oh, and now George Wendt is dead. I mean, granted, he *is* actually gone, but I obviously meant his character in the movie's now dead. Kind of a shame, really, but then again, that was kind of his fault for walking without backup.
10 minutes later
You know, I was actually really curious as to what the title of this movie actually stood for, but the movie just explain that. The title is basically an abbreviation for "Veterans of Foreign Wars". OK, that actually makes sense what with Fred running it and all. So, good to know.
7 minutes later
OK, that's definitely a rather creative way to barge inside a door. Just use one of your own guys, who was also banging on the door, and use their head to beat the door down. Granted, you're already killing one of your own by doing this, but I guess the numbers are still in their favor. For now, anyway.
15 minutes later
Well...it kinda sucks now that Lou's dead. But at the same time, at least he kinda fought off a few of them after his negotiation deal failed. So, at least the guy went out a hero.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "VFW". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off now...OK. Well, what to say here? I am gonna go ahead and say, guys, that this movie is really solid. It's not quite perfect. There are a couple of areas where the movie sorta falters a bit. And surprisingly enough, most of that revolves around technical work, which I'll talk about later on.
So let's talk more about the movie itself here and go through the motions. Let's start with writing, which is really solid. And the best part about it is that it's really easy to follow, as well. Essentially, guys, I want you to take the concept of "Home Alone" and you replace it with a bar made for veterans. And our veterans of this movie are basically trying to fight off this gang of drug dealers, as they are trying to get back the last few stashes that they have left after a girl named Lizard steals it and tries to make a break for it. And while she technically gets away, she ends up in the bar as the leader of the gang, and a few others tracks her down and all hell starts breaking loose between some of the gang members and the veterans. Which basically turns into a war of survival between the two groups. One for the drugs, and the other side who are just trying to survive the night by bunkering themselves inside their bar.
Now I will say that while the writing here is not very story-driven, what helps make this stand out is our characters. Not so much our villain of junkies, since they really don't have anything resembling character depth. It's the veterans who you're going to care about. Every single one of these characters has depth and personality that makes them incredibly likable. And the one that surprises me the most is Lou, who is Martin Kove's character. Because with Lou, the movie almost seems like it's hinting that he'll be a turncoat and try to fight for the other side. And while they sorta hint that, ultimately, he doesn't go through with it. He remains loyal to his fellow veterans and while his negotiation tactics don't exactly work, he still goes out with some dignity. He is kind of an asshole, but a very likable kind of asshole. Although considering that it is Martin Kove who's playing him, I think he has a well established history of playing the asshole in whatever movie he appears in.
Other characters such as our main character, Fred, who is the owner of V.F.W., is one of the better standouts when it comes to our male leads. Because, unlike the trend that was going on within the last few years of making a famous male hero be overshadowed by some fucking Mary-Sue who has to be better than them in every way, this one has it where the male lead actually does carry their own weight without being talked down to by any female character. The only instance where you get something close to that is when Lizard is trying to talk to Fred out of drinking because his friends are getting lopped off one by one. But the difference here is that she's not trying to talk down to him, she's trying to talk to him to help get back in the fight. Now admittedly, Lizard doesn't really have much depth to her character. The only thing that you do know is that her sister was killed by the junkie leader and she stole the remaining drugs as revenge and what ultimately leads up to our main plot of the movie. So while she's the only one who doesn't have much character to her, the rest of the veterans carry that weight across the entire board.
So yeah, guys, our characters here are all very likable. And you're guaranteed to find a favorite here out of this entire cast. The writing here is very simplistic, which is great, because sometimes less is indeed more. You don't always need a story-driven arc to make a movie great, as long as you have likable characters that you can care about, then you really don't need much else. And what makes these characters help stand out is the acting. The acting here is really solid. Everyone here is turning in an excellent showing. The only two I recognized were Martin Kove and George Wendt. I've already mentioned Kove a few times in my previous reviews, so I'm not gonna bring up that again. And for those of you who don't know anything about George Wendt, he was one of the many cast members from a sitcom in the 80's called "Cheers", where he played the character Norm Peterson. And even though the screentime he had in this movie was cut short, he still puts on a rather good performance here. And even though Lizard had the weakest in terms of personality, her actress still puts on a decent performance here. So, I can give her that much. And ultimately, overall, the acting here is very good.
Special effects in this movie are also really solid as well. Just about all of the effects in this movie were done with practical effects, which I'm a huge fan of because I usually prefer them over CG. And since this is a splatter film, I think it would be a horrible crime if they tried to push more for digital effects over practical effects. Thankfully, that's not the case here. All of the blood effects are really good. And the kills are also really well done, too. Well, for some of them, at least, when you can see them properly. I'll talk about that in just a moment, but what you do see here in terms of all the kills here is great. I still can remember the brutal stomping of a corpses head, which is more visceral than that shotgun blast to the head I briefly mentioned earlier. The rest I won't spoil, but overall, the special effects are mostly really good.
Now we come to the two biggest problems with this movie, which is both the camerawork and lighting. In terms of camerawork, it's actually not too bad. It's really only whenever fight scenes happen up close, because the camerawork can become really wonky at times and it's sorta hard to follow what is going on. Now it's very well possible that they were using an Hi-8 camera to help film some of their scenes. It's very noticeable towards the end when you get to see our final showdown between Fred and the junkie leader where the camera will move around a lot and become very shaky. Now like I said a moment ago, it's not all that bad. It's really only apparent when it comes to fight scenes that are shot up close and personal, and it doesn't always work.
The same could be said for the lighting. Now this isn't actually the first time I ever had to comment on a lighting from a movie by Joe Begos, because it was also a bit of an issue I had with "Christmas Bloody Christmas" because there was one type of purple lighting that you see a lot throughout the movie and depending on how much you like the color purple, it was going to be a little bit of a distraction for you. This movie also has a similar problem, although admittedly, it's more of a mixed bag here. See, I actually do like how the bar looks whenever the lights are dimmed out and you don't get to see much other than a dark-red color. And while that is cool-looking, it also hurts the fight scenes a bit because whenever a fight scene is shot inside the bar, the dark red lighting will obscure a lot of what's going on. Add on to the fact that there are also a few times where the movie will jump cut quite a bit when it comes the action scenes. Admittedly, it's not as bad as it was in other movies like "Valentine: The Dark Avenger" and "Chinese-Speaking Vampires", but it is still a bit of an issue that could've been fined tuned a bit here and there.
But beyond that, guys, camerawork and lighting here is pretty decent, aside from some of the issues I already touched upon. Sound-mixing here is pretty good. And the music here is mainly just synth music. It actually reminds me a bit of what I heard in "Escape From New York", since John Carpenter is also a musician in his own right. And while I wouldn't say it's as good as it was there, or any of Carpenter's music work for that matter, it's still at least decent. So I can give the music here that much.
So, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "VFW". Oh yes, guys, most certainly. It is a really good film and I would say it's much better than "Christmas Bloody Christmas", mostly because the characters aren't swearing as much here as they did in "Christmas Bloody Christmas". If you're a fan of old-school horror movies, then this movie is more or less an homage to how some of those movies operated back then. I myself really enjoyed this thing, although I can't say that it's perfect, or will end up being in my Top 5 this year. But still, I enjoyed this movie immensely, guys, and I'll certainly be adding it to my DVD collection. And since I just mentioned "Escape From New York", I'm gonna go and watch that next as soon I get done with this review.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment