A perfect Friday night movie, but not much else.

Rating: 6/10 (23 January 2015)

Vampire movies are very hit or miss, as for every Nosferatu or Blade, there is a Twilight: Breaking Dawn or Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter rearing its ugly head around the corner. So, with a strong budget, cast and writing/directing team of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez behind it, how does this one fare? To be honest, very averagly, as despite some great things, there isn't much that this movie had to offer that many others have done already.
The story is that criminal brothers Seth and Richard Gecko have recently broken out of prison and are travelling to Mexico to give their fellow gangsters some money. However, they encounter some problems, including kidnapping some hostages, trying to get across the US-Mexico border and how their meeting point with the aforementioned gangsters turns out to be full of vampires. Can they survive until dawn? The plot is very simple, and works for a B-movie homage like this, despite occasional plot holes here and there (i.e. why the vampires kill lorry drivers specifically).
The plot isn't the only thing that's very shallow. Most of the characters are two-dimensional at best, with the standouts being George Clooney's Seth Gecko, as the character and Clooney oozes cool, and Harvey Kietel's father character, a widow who is desperately trying to look after his kids and the criminals, to the point where he will sacrifice his life for them. This makes him the character with the most depth in the movie, and Kietel plays him very well with an equal amount of boldness and restraint. The rest of the characters are slightly dull, but the actors do their best with weak material. The only dud here is Juliette Lewis, acting so robotic and lifeless, bringing none of the talent and charisma she had in Cape Fear, What's Eating Gilbert Grape and even Natural Born Killers.
But the film isn't really concerned with plot or characters, but rather the mindless vampire action. After a good half an hour of talking and build up, the film turns into a series of vampire fights, which to be fair are quite cool. Robert Rodriguez is a brilliant action director, and this movie shows that off in spades, as the action scenes have good choreography and a quick pace, which make them enjoyable and fun to watch. The effects are also quite good as well, as despite the fact that a lot of CGI is used, are very impressive. The vampires themselves are quite unique as well, combining influences from films like The Evil Dead and The Thing as well as original ideas to create a truly unique set of creatures.
However, the despite what fun you have watching the film, there isn't enough substance to reward multiple viewings. It's essentially junk food: it's nice enough and satisfies you for what it is, but is isn't anything substantial. I understand that the movie has a strong cult following, but to be honest, this is just a forgettable vampire film that doesn't offer you much outside of fun action and some good acting. It may be very appealing to you if you were a teenage boy who didn't know any better, but to be honest, the film isn't very good, and while it's fine for one watch, it doesn't really warrant repeat viewings for those looking for more depth. So overall, this is just a mediocre vampire film with occasional moments of brilliant here and there. Nothing more, nothing less. Still, it's a better Tarantino/Rodriguez collaboration than Four Rooms, I guess.