Hell Ride (2008)

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

QT produces the film because is Larry Bishop's friend. Madsen, Carradine and Laura Cayoutte are too. Vinnie Jones and Dennis involved also in bad roles because they love B Movies and that's Hell Ride pretends to be... BUT the screenplay is a piece of nonsense crap. No storylines connected neither fully developed is the blade that cuts its head and makes the movie going to oblivion.

I think I'll remember most of the scenes in this movie. It was extremely memorable. It was also skillful and clever. However, I'm surprised by all of the negative feedback towards it. I can only imagine that the reason it wasn't appreciated was that it's a Tarantino-style movie, and most people, to this day, don't 'get' Tarantino.To put it simply, Tarantino established a movie genre of his own, by making **movies about other movies**. Every scene references another, in a completely different movie. All of his references are from popular culture. The problem is that most people don't have even 5% of his movie knowledge, and are unsympathetic and lack understanding regarding his personal psychological issues, which also, always, find expression in his movies.While this movie wasn't directed by Tarantino, it's still firmly positioned in, and faithful to, the Tarantino style. For example, the scene where Leonor Varela tries to seduce the Pistolero Presidente across a snooker table, in a hallway, while giving him 'prophecies'. This is basically an allusion to a scene in the original Conan the Barbarian, but if you weren't aware of this context it would just strike you as lascivious, pointless lewdness (which, incidentally, is a popular myth or urban legend in its own right, but that's another matter)...What is this movie about? Again, if you watch this movie and expect to find things from the real world as opposed to a collection of homages and references to the yesteryear's classic cinema, you'll be disappointed. But if you watch it as it was intended - a piece of popular, entertaining art - you'll get the picture. It belongs to the Alexandre Dumas camp of enlightened liberty of consciousness. In short, it's about the romance of freedom. Even down to the arrow-in-the-chest scene, the characters are bandits cast in an exotic frame a la Dumas... I won't spoil it but you will need to have done some reading and/or movie watching before approaching this one.

The messy, mediocre and racy "Hell Ride" is unfortunately a great deception. Indeed is a poor attempt to imitate Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino styles, or a tribute to these directors that completely fails. The violence and nudity are free and gross in a quite senseless screenplay of a war between rival gangs of outlaws in California. The characters are unlikable and the attractive art of the DVD cover is maybe the best this film can offer on DVD. The most incredible is that Quentin Tarantino is the executive producer of this terrible flick. My vote is one.Title (Brazil): Not Available

My hopes were not exceptionally high for this movie after our last episodes with Mr. Tarantino and I was honestly expecting a black comedy style criticism as the main theme of the movie. Boy, I was wrong, so wrong. Someone should tell Tarantino that he should be done with this theme and its time to move on for him (And us also). The characters are out of place, even the well established actor villains that are in the cast who could have done much better had the story been a little more acceptable. It is so dull that I could have had more fun watching Ninja Turtles or Gremlins (The original versions btw). That is some achievement. Anyway, 80 minutes lost, gone and will never return.