The Hollow Point

This is a dark, dark,modern western which so nearly works. Set in an Arizona border town that time has forgotten a collection of flawed characters fight and die over the illegal smuggling of lethal ammunition across the border to fuel the relentless cartel wars. The movie though is more about mood and character studies; not all of these work but there is enough to keep the viewer engaged - at times I was reminded of noir movies of the 40's. Yes there are plot holes and continuity is sacrificed for the sake of action but when you compare it to some of the rubbish turned out on far bigger budgets featuring so called A List actors this is well worth the time.

6/19/18. I thought it would be all right because Patrick Wilson was in it. But, I guess everyone is entitled to making a dud every once in awhile. Could have been better.

This is a Good movie (although we could spend days debating what 'good' actually means'). It's a modern western (which I usually hate). The concept is brilliant but it lacks a bit in the execution. One reason, perhaps is that the director also edited it (thank goodness he didn't write it!) so some parts are a little obscure.

It's low budget but with an excellent cast - Patrick Wilson, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo and Jim Belushi - and altogether very well done. And Juan Navazo does a great job with the music.

There are more than a few twists along the way, a few high action moments and a few 'if they knew that they wouldn't do this' and 'that would never happen' moments so your suspension of disbelief goes out the window. It's sloppy writing/direction but it happens in so many movies, so maybe we're immune to it. I call it the Commando effect after the Schwarzenegger movie (love him!) where at least 100K rounds are fired at him and not one hits. You get the idea, but maybe we're just a nation (world) of un-critical, non-thinking couch potato movie watchers. I dunno.

Anyway...

I struggle to find the 'point' of the title. 'The List' might have been a better/more apt title and more could have been made of that idea (you'll understand when/if you watch it). It sort of splits the theme of the movie in two which, perhaps, is why it's not as cohesive as it could be.

It drifts off in a direction you maybe didn't think of (which is good) but the writer, Nils Lyew, needs to work on theme and plot development.

With the premise of this being a crime thriller, I must admit that I had very little expectations to the movie, especially since that particular genre is flooded with a lot of very generic movies.

However, it turned out that "The Hollow Point" was actually quite an entertaining and interesting movie to watch. Especially so, since the story was well-constructed and the acting performances really promoted the story quite well in transition from script to on-screen.

It was perhaps the brutality of the storyline that appealed to me. Because this was not your average cops against criminals story. And the storyline was really helped nicely along the way by some interesting and detailed characters.

The movie was really nicely carried by Patrick Wilson, and it was a nice surprise to see him excel at a genre like this, and that proves that he is actually quite a diverse actor. Furthermore, it was also really nice to see Ian McShane, John Leguizamo and Jim Belushi in the movie as well. It was a shame, though, that John Leguizamo didn't have a bigger role, because his character could really have been so interesting to get to see more of. There were some good acting performances from everyone in the movie, which really added to the overall enjoyment of the movie.

"The Hollow Point" was indeed an entertaining movie, and it was a good surprise how nice the movie actually turned out to be.

However, while this movie is entertaining, I doubt that the movie is one that I will watch a second time, because it just didn't have enough contents to support more than a single viewing. That doesn't make it a poor movie, just that once you have seen this the first time, there is nothing to support additional viewings.

My rating for "The Hollow Point" is a solid 6 out of 10 stars.

"The Hollow Point" is a movie that feels lazily and cynically assembled by a committee. It looks good, has some really violent moments, and some dependable stars. Who cares if it doesn't make sense, or you don't care about any of the characters?

It becomes clear early on that you don't need to make any investment into the characters not only because the movie doesn't adequately explain who they are or what they want, but also because you know they are going to get maimed and mutilated in some pretty gruesome and graphic ways, that only the special effects people seem to understand the repercussions of.

Case in point: early on, our hero, if that's who he is, is attacked by a madman wielding a machete, who hacks off one of his limbs. This is depicted every bit as violently as you might expect. Does he go into shock, pass out from blood loss, and die? Does he manage to get help, go to hospital, recover, learn to live without the limb, quit the police force, because I'm pretty sure a one-armed-man would be ineligible for service, and live out his days on disability?

No.

He apparently drags himself to the house of his partner - if that's who he is - bleeds on the guy's walls, and waits politely until sun up.

When he finally goes to hospital, he asks wryly about the chance of the limb being found and reattached, to which the doctor or nurse makes an almost cruelly flippant response.

It's a grim-dark, bleak, nihilistic thriller, see?

See?

Except you couldn't really blame her, because it was an idiotic question, but nowhere near the idiocy he showed by not going to a hospital right away. She should have found the limb and slapped him with it.