Hobo with a Shotgun is an exploitation movie done right; along with its hyperviolence and sadistic sense of humor, it’s also dark and gritty, a dirty movie that pulls no punches. Rutger Hauer stars as the title character, a bum who arrives by train into a city that is overrun with crime and corruption. At first, he attempts to ignore it and just go about his begging ways, attempting to save up enough money to buy a lawnmower from a pawn shop. But after saving a young prostitute named Abby (Molly Dunsworth), he is attacked and beaten up for his troubles with the help of a corrupt police force. With the police of no help, Hobo decides that he’s going to have to take justice into his own hands, and takes to the streets shotgun in tow to start ridding the city of its crime. This raises the ire of crime lord The Drake (Brian Downey), who along with his sons Ivan (Nick Bateman) and Slick (Gregory Smith), control the city by fear and executing anyone who dissents.
Hauer brings gravitas to his role as the Hobo; he could have easily done everything with a self-aware “I know this is ridiculous” performance, but he doesn’t. Instead, he treats his role and the movie with 100% seriousness and knocks it out of the park, making his goofier lines all the more funny, and the more serious moments all the more intense. He makes the character of the Hobo more than just a dude who ends up with a shotgun; there’s a layer of pain and disgust with how the world has turned out and the lengths he has to go to in order to reinstate justice. Had it been anyone else, or someone who was going to take the role not as seriously, there’s a good chance Hobo with a Shotgun would not have worked, but Hauer makes sure that no one views this as just a straight goofy hyperviolent film.
And make no mistake, this is as hyperviolent as you can get. Limbs are sliced off, blood oozes and sprays out, and people are decapitated left and right. There’s a beauty to it too though, as director Jason Eisener and his crew used the most practical effects they could find. There is no CGI to be found; instead buckets of fake blood for severed heads/limbs are utilized and although it’s over the top, it also adds to the grittiness.
No one is going into Hobo with a Shotgun hoping for a wonderful story, but there actually is one here. Sure, it’s basically a vigilante hobo shooting criminals, but the movie has a deeper theme about the destruction of our world and the need for a hero. The Hobo’s vigilante ways become inspiring to the town and allows the people to fight back against oppression from The Drake and his many gang members. It has been done to death in movies but it is particularly powerful here. One can feel the struggle of the city to escape under the thumb of violent oppression, and in this day when foreign leaders are being taken to task left and right, Hobo with a Shotgun becomes somewhat poignant, even if it wasn’t an intention from the outset.
There is absolutely little to hate about Hobo with a Shotgun; it’s got all the violence and goofy dialogue you hope to see in an exploitation movie, but there’s also weight to the story that separates it from the pack. Rutger Hauer’s performance is funny, heartbreaking, and even somewhat inspirational. His adherence to treating the material seriously helps put the movie on another level entirely. Although many will be put off by the buckets of blood and the filmmakers’ love of severing heads from bodies, the people who give Hobo with a Shotgun a chance will find one of the more original, dark, and smart exploitation movies to come out since the genre started making its comeback a few years ago.
Magnet Releasing will premiere the film on VOD starting April 1st and in theaters May 6th.