A Bullet in the Arse

I saw this at a friend's house recently and was blown away. I know it's low budget and all that, but man, talk about money well spent...except maybe for some of the music. But the rest of the film more than makes up for that blip. Classic Sergio Leone homage, with maybe a few touches of Sam Raimi? Possibly a hint of James Cameron in the action bits? Hmmm? No? Well I'm sure these guys must watch a lot of the above filmmakers. Anyway, I would have happily paid to see this in a cinema, but apparently that's still yet to happen. Why? What money grubbing bastard is preventing this? Give me their names and I'll cheerfully persuade them. Sorry, back to the review: Excellent use of locations, dynamic action scenes, no-name actors (but why is that supposed to be so bad?), and some really good characters. Just what is the function of the guy in the red t-shirt in the brothel? Or maybe I don't want to know. Anyway, seven thumbs up.

At first glance, this film has three horror words associated with it: low-budget, independent, and Australian. However, do not be deceived, this is a quality product. The use of locations, the world the film makers have established, the action, and the dark humour, more than make up for the lack of name actors, and the occasional piece of faulty music. The guys who made this obviously love Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah films, and this really comes across in the feel and tone. I have never seen a car chase with such crappy underpowered cars before and still been entertained. As with everything else in the film, it's not what they've got, but how they use it! The gunfights are well choreographed, not just another silly Americanised episode. The guns even have to be reloaded! How some of this stuff was done, especially in today's political environment, makes me wonder, but I doubt if I will be seeing anything like this in a low budget film again. Not in this country anyway. On the downside, the supporting cast make the lead seem rather lame, and some of the music, especially towards the end, seems like it was done in a hurry. However, there is nothing about this film that would normally fall under the category of 'Australian', it's not trying to be zany, quirky, or a 'slice of life'. It's just good.