Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane

I just watched Blood, Guts, Bullets, and Octane on DVD last night, and found myself rather bored from start to finish. The camera work is sloppy, slipping in and out of focus as it pans back and forth from character to character, zooming in and out, and so on...The dialogue scenes are way too long, and the action scenes leave you feeling cheated, due to the shaky-cam, fast editing style that tries to conceal the lack of blanks and squibs. A good action sequence is created by the actual action onscreen rather than jerky camera work and loud sound effects. This film shows very little real action. The story takes way too long to get started, and once it does, it becomes boring, with very little pay off at the end. However, I have to give Joe Carnahan credit for making this film on such a low budget; regardless of the story, simply planning and executing this shoot is an impressive achievement. Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi still remains the most legendary low-budget action film ever made, with better writing, directing, cinematography, and special effects than Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane. So to sum it up, check this movie out, but don't expect too much; it is what it is.

I did not like this movie when I saw it in the theater. I basically thought it was another Quentin Tarantino rip off. But I saw it again on cable and i realized what this movie really was. It is basically a marvel of movie making. As said before, the acting and delivery is wooden, but that was what gave it it's charm. It reminded me of Mamet's House of Games. I think the director Joe Carnahan is the new Quentin Tarentino... and will be one to watch.

Two used car lot owners, who we know nothing about, get involved with numerous shady characters, who we know nothing about, while being paid to watch a Pontiac convertible, which we know nothing about. Why would anyone be interested in a movie that explains nothing, and has zero character development? The obvious answer is you wouldn't. Throw in unending closeups of meaningless dialog, a "surprise" ending that is so ridiculous, it will leave you wondering if it didn't come from a different film, and other trivial nonsense that does nothing to explain this confused mess. Forget even considering seeing B.G.B. & O, instead seek out "Suckers", another low budget crime drama centering around a used car operation, that is absolutely brilliant. - MERK

Have you ever watched a VHS (remember those?) that was copied from a tape that was already a copy? If you did, you'd know the quality was really bad by that point. That's how copies work...the more generations you make, the worse it gets. That's pretty much how I'd sum up this film. It feels like a Tarantino rip off, and all but Tarantino's first couple movies are rip offs themselves (you can call it an "homage" all you want...the dude steals stuff and makes a few minor changes).

The plot is pretty basic at best. A couple of friends decide to save their failing used car dealership by taking on more than they can handle with a random assortment of bad guys. Of course by the time that happened I was already bored to tears. The writers try to make up for a tired story with some snappy dialog and succeed once or twice, but overall the whole thing is just one big failure. They should really remove the "blood" and "guts" part of the title...there's not much of the former and none of the latter. The "bullets" part is up for debate as well since there's not much in the way of gun play going on. Sadly, there's not much of anything going onat all. Period. It's just bad...even for a low budget rip off.

The teaser on the front of the movie box said, "better than The Usual Suspects!" I couldn't disagree more. This movie solely lacked any character development, was poorly acted, and had a dumb storyline. Don't waste your time.