DVD
REVIEW: HELL RIDE
10/26/08
SYNOPSIS:
Bad-ass biker Pistolero (Larry
Bishop) hits the road to avenge the killing of his lover
Cherokee Kisum (Julia Jones) by a rival motorcycle gang the
666ers, along with his brother The Gent (Michael Madsen) and
the mysterious Comanche (Eric Balfour).
REVIEW: In order to enjoy this movie you must satisfy
one of the following prerequisites: you must be a Quentin
Tarantino fan, or a Robert Rodriguez fan, or a fan of 70s
style biker movies, or at least a fan of the three B’s . . .
beer, bikes, and booty. Remember the Man Show on cable TV?
For some reason I kept thinking about it during the movie. I
guess this movie is like the Man Movie. It really is all
about the beer, bikes, and booty. Throw on top of that a
hefty cast, cool characters with cool outfits, a retro look
and filming style, in your face action, and a palpable
revenge story and you’ve got a Hell Ride. Larry Bishop
obviously went to the Tarantino School of Filmmaking and
although this project does not quite reach Tarantino
caliber, it is a good second run as Director for Larry. He
is also the writer and star of this film giving him triple
threat status. Even though most would say that Tarantino
was, as he usually is, very involved with the making of this
picture, we can still see Larry’s potential. His direction
was good and he played his role well considering he is not a
big name on the big screen, but the writing was marginal at
best. The script did fit the movie and the movie fit the
script but at moments it was a little adolescent. It was
more interesting to see how the performers were delivering
their lines than what they were actually saying. The fact
that the movie was choppy too doesn’t help.
The big names like Dennis Hopper, David Carradine, Michael
Madsen, and Vinnie Jones all delivered. Just seeing them in
action really helps make the movie worth while. Both Larry
Bishop and Eric Balfour kept up nicely with these big guns.
All these guys’ characters were larger than life, as bikers
tend to be. So were the babes, oops, sorry, the women. Va va
voom! I was especially impressed by Leonor Varela. I last
saw her in Blade II. Remember the vampire princess that got
to Blade’s soft spot, well talk about a different role for
her. In the words of the best College Football announcer
ever, Keith Jackson, “Whoa Nelly!” Unfortunately, however,
the movie starts out slow and never really picks up much
speed. You can see how it establishes the importance of
biker honor and loyalty, and how the plot for revenge begins
to develop but I caught myself thinking a couple of times,
what’s the point? Even the climax was a bit uneventful but
at least the story has some twists and is wrapped up nicely
in the end. This random movie could easily fit in the
Grindhouse series, although not as good as the first two. Be
warned, it is not a movie for everybody.
Movie
Review By Cine Marcos
cinemarcos@smartcine.com
VIDEO:
(16x9) Anamorphic Widescreen
AUDIO:
English
5.1 (Dolby Digital).
Subtitles - English Spanish - Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Feature Commentary By Writer/Director/Producer Larry Bishop
& Director Of Photography Scott Kevan
The Making
Of Hell Ride In this short featurette
Larry Bishop
talks
about how he got involved with the movie. He also talks
about some of the scenes. Nothing special here, if you
enjoyed the film may be you should check this out. (8:51)
The Babes
Of Hell Ride: Like the name suggested this
featurette is about the girls of the movie. It includes
comments from Larry Bishop and some of the girls. (5:20)
The Guys
Of Hell Ride: This featurette is about the main cast
of the movie. Once again Larry Bishop talk about his
approach for the cast. (14:19)
The
Choppers of Hell Ride: This is about the motorcycles
used in the film and how each bike what's match to each of
the characters in the film. If you are into motorcycles, you
may enjoyed this featurette. (9:35)
Michael
Madsen’s Video Diary This is a hand cam video
by Michael Madsen, I really enjoy this featurette. I felt it
was like a real behind the scenes. (9:04)
RATING BREAK DOWN:
| FILM REVIEW |
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VIDEO |
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AUDIO |
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| BONUS
FEATURES |
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