VANish

well i am fan of Danny Trejo Machete, From Dusk Till Dawn, Dead in Tombstone, a lot more i love with his movies. reason i watched this movie i love R Rated bloody, shooting, chopping, lots of swearing, Mexican style cartels witch i really like my type of movies there was not much to say and watch again for second time because the movie didn't do much i love gore but trouble is i know Danny trejo is not main character for movie i like him as villain but i just didn't like characters and camera what they filmed looked terrible the way it's shot plot is easy made like director is out of ideas what's to write quick story OK i like quick story i have no problem with it but this movie has noting to do with Taken or Gunman films.

story follows is that girl named Emma (Maiara Walsh)was girl got kidnapped and forced to go at a road trip similar story like from dusk till dawn when George Conney taken family as hostage to go to Mexico but in this film you have 3 guys jack (Austin Abke), Max (Bryan Bockbrader), Shane (Adam Guthrie)were driving to met Carlos (Danny Trejo) was cartel was her father. in very half way of movie it's all about 3 guys and 1 girl in van driving like million miles these 3 characters were just idiots specially 3rd guy Shane when he had plan to escape Emma to find shotgun, then Max find out later about plan Shane kills him and leaves him the scene was very graphic scene i have ever saw very well made for low budget with blood with good work on it. thing is Shane turned against Emma because Shane has a blackout there was scene when Emma blows Shane head with double barrel shotgun to his head witch had very great action it and dialog when Shane said i got Axe Emma I GOT SHOTGUN BANG ! ending shooting scene was noting to it i thought another characters were boring specially jack was just jerk first of all he turned into bad guy to good guy ? come on i wish that was Danny trejo no problem with him as villain but him as good would not be that bad just way it ended like noting 4.10 noting special good gore bloody weren't that much CGI it is very low budget movie. there is Alternate Ending of movie i am not sure of on blu ray

there was a lot of gore high impact violence i love it that way it had less impact violence the movie didn't had much of action it had more of crime, thriller type of thing when you don't have much Action in movie. Danny trejo doesn't show up like almost to end of movie just shots sub machine gun at end movie went for 98 minutes long that's it i expect more then that for main role for trejo apart using him as villain i thought main actress Maiara Walsh wasn't too bad but i expect someone else Mexican actress i had no problem with actress and Danny trejo doesn't appear from ending of movie witch is just poor made for him to be in mostly for 1 hour of movie it's 3 idiots and Emma is hostage OK but eh this movie is noting special 4.10

After a month and bit of watching purely Oscar nominated films it always takes a bit of getting used to, and is somewhat of a relief, delving back into standard action-thrillers. 'VANish' is obviously a long way from being Oscar material but it's still pretty good. The dialogue actually holds together really well for the most part and the story moves at a good pace. In fact the pace really does move along at supersonic speed. The film doesn't even reach 80 minutes but they could easily have panned it out to 90 if they'd wanted to with needless extra scenes and irrelevant dialogue (or heaven forbid an opening title sequence). Bravo to them for being happy with the runtime and not insulting the viewer.

"Girl Power" seems to be a large part of what director Bryan Bockbrader has gone for here and it works. Almost every male in the movie is a complete moron and the one and only female is a calm and competent woman who rules over them all (even when her hands are tied behind her back). That's not to say there's nothing for men to enjoy - there's more blood, guts and gore than your average thriller, that's for sure. Maiara Walsh did a very good job in the lead role and her acting seems to have taken a step in the right direction since I last saw her in 'Desperate Housewives'. All in all a nice surprise.

It takes a lot to make a movie set in one confined environment and this writer director has come up trumps with this.

I did not expect to enjoy this as much as i did as some of the acting is not that great, the gore scenes are actually quite funny and not well done but I am not sure whether it was meant to be black humour but it has accomplished it by accident and quite well I must say.

Ignoring all the deficiencies it was well photographed , directed and the female lead was good in the role so against all odds this film actually comes out quite a way on top of what I otherwise would have expected it to be. I would like to see the alternate endings which all sounded as good as each other so all in all this was a well above average nights viewing and I am giving it a very respectable 7/10.

I was immediately gripped withing seconds of watching 'VANish'. When meeting Max and Jack, you can't help but become attached to the characters, even though you speculate that maybe, they aren't the most wholesome of characters. It becomes evident upon kidnapping Emma, that they have very little experience in the matter, especially when they add the undoubtedly awkward Shane into the mix. They all travel towards their destination with what seems to be separate motives and as it all begins to unravel, you're sitting on the edge of your seat, captivated by action and delightfully demoniac violence as the plot twists further.

It's visually stunning and brought me to that same blissful state of entertainment that I would normally get from a Tarantino or Rodriguez film. It's like nothing I've seen before, the fact that it takes part almost wholly in the van adds to the thrill factor, as if you were yourself, along for the ride. It is a masterful feat that Bryan Bockbrader, wrote, directed, produced and starred in the film and that kind of dedication is few and far between. The appearances by seasoned pro's Tony Todd and Danny Trejo adds to the frenzy of excitement. The cast has wonderful chemistry and the writing is extremely intelligent and engrossing. All and all, a gripping outside of the box (while inside a van)tale unlike any kidnapping thriller you'll ever watch. It's available on DVD, Blue Ray, Video on demand and iTunes and I highly recommend checking it out.

An independent/low budget movie that does deliver mostly. The story is nicely told and the action is nicely shot as well (there will be blood at times, so you can't be too squeamish about it). Don't expect to see too much of Danny Trejo though. I think he's doing a lot of movies, where he just has a small role (like in this one).

But the movie works well, especially the twists and turns along the way (no pun intended). There are a couple of different endings to this which normally isn't the best sign, but I think the ending that made it into the movie is the best one. It almost couldn't have ended any other way (even if it did and you can watch those scenes on your disk)