American Muscle

American Muscle (2014) is a disgusting movie, terrible acting, bad storyline, annoying characters, very bad acting ... Somehow someone wants to make a cheap movie like American Muscle, its typical story, revenge and filled with prostitutes and actors who only show off muscles and faces alone and can not act at all in this movie ... Do not waste your time to watch This junk film

John Falcon (Nick Principe) is out for revenge/out for a kill. His muscle car and pump gun are ready. On the day he leaves prison, blood will be spilled. This is fun to watch. Didn't expect too much in the first place, was then surprised by the crew's obvious enthusiasm. Honest, low budget, hard hitting. Some superbly directed shots, some straight forward action. Some of the acting is better, some is worse. Altogether a good mix for a wild ride (some nude dance included). I wasn't too keen on Machete Kills (the second one) by Roberto Rodriguez, but this is the kind of Grindhouse I personally like. As this seems to be the director Ravi Dhar's debut, I guess there is more to come. I'll watch out for it.

..is the reason why I gave this 1 out of 10. And that is quite fair as it's really the only attractive thing about the whole damn production. The movie was slow, very slow. The action lacked everything an actionscene needs. The effects were all computer generated including some very badly done muzzle flashes (even I can do better..) and very very amateur. And worst of all : The lead actor couldn't even act to save his own life. He just tries to look mean all the time and it just doesn't come across. There are occasional shots (not even scenes) where he comes off less bad. But I'm talking occasional seconds here and there. The director is either scared of this man as well or he's just a 12 year old kid who's just finished his school project. That's what most of this reminded me of. Give some dimwit a bag of money and a box of cameratricks and let him film the script his 8 year old brother wrote.

I started watching this knowing what to expect, hoping for some gratuitous violence, occasional ridiculous sexscene and downright cool crap. I was hoping for a grindhouse type production. Well. Hellride sucked, but it's a complete masterpiece compared to this turd. An absolute waste of time.

Start with a hero who is big and strong, covered with tattoos and vicious looking, who kills without remorse and has a true cause: To save his wife from the clutches of his evil brother who betrayed him 10 years ago. Add in the trashy hot chicks and the resulting heedless adultery, the drugs and alcohol, the rampant killing of bad guys and a few mostly innocent folks as well, bikers (never forget the bikers), drug money and lots of guns..

And ta da, you have yourself a Mantasy. A compilation of all the animalistic, pointless behaviors associated with big, strong, dangerous looking men as they rage through the neighborhood being.. well, stereotypically manly. The idea is that men don't think. They react on instinct. Revenge, hate, rage, lust and delusion. It could be fun, but this time it wasn't.

In order to make this style of film really work, the hero (as it is entirely hero-centric) needs to be someone that the viewer can empathize with. If there is no empathy, there is no entertainment.

This hero is set up as a showpiece more than a character. I think the writers and director wanted to believe that he was the perfect manly character: with the perfect manly name, the right sized muscles, the tough looking exterior and tattoos, and doing all the right manly things like winning the fights, killing the bad guys, boppin all the ladies, fighting for justice, etc. But unfortunately all those shiny archetypes of the manly hero are tarnished when we add in all the little blemishes to his heroic luster: He cheats on his wife, he kills even mostly innocent people without remorse, he is clearly delusional on some level and irritatingly fatalistic, etc, etc. And we have a hero that you just don't feel inclined to love.

All in all, the film was simply just unsatisfying. The acting was not great, the plot development was handled as well as it could be for a plot that really makes little sense, and the camera work was only shaky when it really counted. It just didn't entertain, but instead skirted along in shallow waters, so to speak. It never achieved convincing depth, which is a shame because it tried too hard.

I picked it up for only one reason, the main lead Nick Principe. I met the guy at a convention were he was to promote Laid To Rest (2009). Being a very nice guy who signed my stuff and made it possible to take a picture with him it's weird to see him here as a really tough guy going out for revenge. And that's exactly what it is all about.

I noticed that some reviewers were very negative about this flick which is made as an old grindhouse flick. Well, to be honest it isn't really grindhouse, maybe the opening looks like it, you know, the yellow main titles but that's as far as it goes. From then on this story, written in two sentences, guy get free after 10 years jail and is out to kill everybody who tricked him in the passed, moves on as a brutal flick. The brutality lays in the fact that the revenge is out for everyone, girl or man. But most of it is done off-screen but they tricked us by letting the blood drop on the lens of the camera. Simple but it works. The acting is mediocre but still it isn't going to be for everybody because it has a lot of nudity in it. And some girls are really full of tattoos.

If you just want to see a no-brainer with tits all the way and blood then this is a must see, but I admit, there's no suspense, you know what will happen, okay, the ending do has a plot that you just didn't expect. Also nice to see was the yellow Plymouth Duster muscle car, very nice and that sound, I love it.

Not that bad at all, a simple low budget flick that delivers what you want from such kind of flicks.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5