R E V I E W S
3000 Miles To Graceland (2001)
Starring: Kurt
Russell, Kevin Costner, Courtney Cox, David Arquette Studio: Warner Bros. Review Posted: 2.25.01 Rating: 7/10
By Stephen.
"Style is king rather than crime"
Judging from the first 20 minutes, it's easy to tell the director favors fast cutting and flash photography. And why not. I like his style. Demian Lichtenstein directed music videos before making 3000 Miles To Graceland. I couldn't help but wonder of how big of a director's dream project this felt like. Of course, there are a lot of big names involved, but the movie seems as if Warner Bros. really let the director do whatever he wanted. And that's not a bad thing, if true. Because, this movie kicked some arse.
3000 Miles To Graceland starts out as a caper flick about five Elvis's robbing a Casino Matrix-style. But it turns out to be a rather complicated and lengthy cat-and-mouse game. Not as much of a game, more of a road movie with a lot of bad shit happening. This movie is not 100% original, since, basically, the plot has been brought to our attention more than once. But, 3KMTG delivers it in several different and cool styles.
Michael (Russell) snags a room at the Last Chance Hotel. There he meets Cybil (Cox), with a "C," and her little sneaky, but sly kid Jesse (Kaye). Soon, Michael is off-roading with Murphy (Costner), Hanson (Slater), Gus (Arquette), and Franklin (Woodbine) to the casino. The casino shootout is both fun and creepy. It was pretty gratuitous, cutting back and forth between an Elvis impersonator singing and the Matrix-style massacre.
After the first 30-40 minutes, the pace really starts to slow down. The main story of 3KMTG is pretty slim and doesn't present anything new. It feels low on thought and morals, as characters die pretty fast here; all of them in nasty ways. I can't help but think that this movie heavily relies and depends upon violence, grisly dialogue, and slick style. It seemed to work for most of the time, but too much of it also left it a bit depraved.
As I said before, I really dug the style of 3KMTG. All the big stars in this movie must've liked the script or just signed on to be in it because of the fun it seemed to offer. Elvis is a cool subject and a great artist, but this movie didn't do much justice to The King. It was too long and the Elvis subject seemed like a poor excuse for making the characters, I think, more likeable?! Costner's Murphy is a real bad ass, but didn't feel realistic. Russell's Michael and Cox's Cybil actually looked good together. Kaye's Jessie, the sly ten-year-old, was great.
|
