Tom Reviews "Shoot the Hero"

Tom's Corner:

Shoot The Hero!
(2010, Christian Sesma, director)



I like to bring you all something different every now and again. Different doesn't have to mean bad...of course, it doesn't have to mean good either. This brings us to “Shoot the Hero!,” the latest film from Christian Sesma. Where did I hear about it? Well, anytime you put Jason Mewes, Fred Williamson and Danny Trejo in one movie, my film sense is gonna start a-tinglin'. Was this a comedy? Was it an action movie? Was it a buddy pic? Was it a romantic comedy? Was it (at times) a campy movie?

Yeah, and THAT is what makes it work!

Jason Mewes (one half of the legendary stoner-duo Jay and Silent Bob) and Samantha Lockwood star as Nate and Kate, a pair of 30 somethings who have lost the spark in their relationship. Nate decides to take Kate to a jewelry store, which is about to close. Nate gets them in to look at rings, but as far as Kate is concerned, this is too little too late.

Suddenly, Franklin (Paul Sloan) and Grant (Nick Tuturro) and their crew burst in to rob the place. The robbery goes south when Grant reveals that their boss, Crazy Joe (Danny Trejo) knows about this robbery and it is apparently against his wishes, or they are stealing something that belongs to him...or something, it's never made too clear. Grant pushes Nate by flirting with and grabbing Kate, and gets his ass beat. The two leave with the mysterious loot in a duffel bag, off to Vegas to get married.

Now we cut to two men walking through the strangely snowy desert. These are the Smith Brothers, who don't get first names. They ran out of gas in their car and are arguing their way through the desert. The boys wander into and break out of a mercenary camp run by Fred “the Hammer” Williamson. What does this have to do with anything for the rest of the movie? Uh...um...nope, I've got nothing. That was a third of the movie that just didn't need to be there. There's not even any character exposition that couldn't have been done elsewhere.

So who should pick up these bickering wanderers but Nate and Kate. The foursome heads to Palm Springs where the Smiths have a job. Along the road, they all bond. Nate feels he should have given them his number, so he follows them into the weird underground casino and...it's Grant and Crazy Joe! (A quick word about Crazy Joe. He's a mob boss who has two women [Katie Morgan from Zack and Miri and Annemarie Pazmino] who constantly want to fondle and sexually satisfy him. I just don't see why he's so angry all the time).

It turns out the Smiths are “cleaners,” professional hitmen who are the best in the business. Guess who they've been hired to kill? Well, here comes the orgy of violence and gunfire. Cue happy ending.

It's really hard to say how I feel about this movie. The parts of it are so disjointed at times that its hard to follow. And again, that whole Smith Brothers sequence was unnecessary, though I would LOVE to see a Smith Brothers movie. In fact, if the whole movie had been about those bickering brother hitmen, I would be giving it a glowing review. While I do look forward to seeing more films from Christian Sesma, I hope future endeavors will be a little more tightly plotted.

- Tom