by Tom on 18 Nov 2023, 20:30
I really enjoyed this. Dolph fans are a perfect audience because it speaks directly to people who grew up on B movie cinema (and because it's Dolph in that role especially), fused with just being a general love letter to movie theatres and the experience of seeing a film on the big screen.
It's also on every technical level and quite easily, the best thing Dolph has been in since Creed 2. This is a proper movie and not something that's just been shat out as disposable content. It comes from a place of passion, which really is felt in Orson's story and Terrance Howard's performance. Howard is superb to be fair. Dolph probably does the most effective riff on this exaggerated version of his persona (if you compare it to his sitcom riffs on his career) and has some interesting character quirks as Hallyday outside of his movie images.
It does owe a lot to Tarantino and Rodriguez and the way they homage grindhouse/B-movies but doesn't just become a pale imitator of their style (thankfully). When the film starts to mirror Hallyday's own B pictures, it's not quite as effective for me, but the sequences are enjoyable. As for Orson Oblowitz, I'd love to see him work with Dolph again and I'd love to see Dolph transition into more interesting projects and supporting parts because a lot of the action stuff seems physically beyond him now and apart from anything else must be boring.
Judging by Twitter it seems like maybe Oblowitz isn't that happy with the distribution and a real lack of fanfare, which is a shame because this is that rare direct-to-video (bar the very short theatrical run) that actually feels like it's come from a place of passion. As such, I don't know if it's going to sink way under the radar, which is a shame for a really well-lensed film and an inspired Howard.
Sidenote- Just realised I watched a previous film from Orson called The Queen of Hollywood Blvd that had similar nostalgic shades as this, but without quite so much budget, but I did enjoy that one too.