Comme ci, comme ca

Rating: 3/10 (26 July 2006)

Hostel is about three guys rambling around Europe. The plot is not that important. Within the hour people start being rendered into meat and meat by-products. This is pretty much in line with the preview which hinted at three horny guys looking for sex in Europe, and then getting drawn into a new level of R rated violence, which is exactly what occurs, without further nuance. The only thing the movie adds to the preview is more violence. It doesn't get deeper, more clever, or more interesting. This could have had the power of Bue Velvet or Last Tango in Paris, but it quickly gets run through the Hollywood formula which removes any trace of believability or interest. Instead it's pretty much a retread of Friday the 13th in which sexually-active teens are mutilated; the moralism that feeds the country.
The characters are super bland. They have the most normative of sex. They 'make love' to some super-models. The movie is little more than hetero boy wish-fulfillment. You get to see some boobs on hot chicks and there's enough homophobia to reassure nervous viewers there's no possibility the movie will veer into any unexpected direction. You even get to hate Europeans. bonus. And gay people are back to being twisted psychotic sadistic freaks! double bonus. The guy gets to be heroic and save the chick (uh, well sort of).
Gee what brave choices.