Two in one

Rating: 7/10 (27 April 2005)

This movie can be seen in two ways i guess. The first way is to see it and not think, in which case you can just look at it as an entertaining vampire-flick. The other way to look at it is to think a little and realize that this is really two movies in one.
The movie starts out quite slow and somber. Two brothers are on the run from the law, having broken out of prison and leaving a trail of dead police officers behind them. They are heading toward the Mexican border at top speed. Their paths cross with a family consisting of a father and his two children. Thinking that it would be easier to cross the border in a motor home with a family the brothers take them hostage.
For about half the movie this is not so different from what you would expect from Tarantino. Some quite funny dialog, George Clooney as the foul-mouthed hard-case. And Harvey Keitel as the world-weary preacher being taken hostage. Then the other half of the movie changes style completely. From a rather comfy thriller of sorts it erupts into a splatter-filled vampire-flick. And i guess this is where many people start having trouble with this movie.
However, i must confess i really like this movie. In forging these two styles together Robert Rodriguez shows that he has the fingertip-feel needed to balance them out. While there is certainly a lot of gore the comedy never leaves the movie. I found myself sitting with a more or less constant smile on my face throughout. Sometimes, in very rare cases, the sum of the parts are bigger than the whole so to speak. And this is such a case. I rate this 7/10.