Walter Hill making a Western with Christoph Waltz and Willem Dafoe? Count me in! At least that's what I was thinking before I saw the trailer, which was already a little underwhelming, to say the least.
Unfortunately, the first impression didn't deceive: Everything here feels amateurish almost beyond belief. From the "color grading", which is really just a sepia filter reminiscent of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 3, to the cinematography, the most obvious CGI blood and smoke as well as the editing with its constant and obnoxious fade-outs. If anyone would have told me that this is an amateur production made for YouTube, I would have believed them in an instant.
The story is as generic as they come, the writing especially in the first act extremely uninspired, accompanied by wooden acting. If Christoph Waltz playing a bounty hunter sounds promising and somewhat exciting to you, make no mistake: He is the blandest I have ever seen him here. Always a joy to watch though and probably the only bright spot in this mess is Willem Dafoe - although his character ultimately surves no purpose for the main narrative.
It's always baffling to witness former great directors reaching late-career lows - Brian De Palma would come to mind here. The problem isn't that Hill tried to make a B movie, as he successfully did before. DEAD FOR A DOLLAR is unfortunately just bad.
Unfortunately, the first impression didn't deceive: Everything here feels amateurish almost beyond belief. From the "color grading", which is really just a sepia filter reminiscent of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 3, to the cinematography, the most obvious CGI blood and smoke as well as the editing with its constant and obnoxious fade-outs. If anyone would have told me that this is an amateur production made for YouTube, I would have believed them in an instant.
The story is as generic as they come, the writing especially in the first act extremely uninspired, accompanied by wooden acting. If Christoph Waltz playing a bounty hunter sounds promising and somewhat exciting to you, make no mistake: He is the blandest I have ever seen him here. Always a joy to watch though and probably the only bright spot in this mess is Willem Dafoe - although his character ultimately surves no purpose for the main narrative.
It's always baffling to witness former great directors reaching late-career lows - Brian De Palma would come to mind here. The problem isn't that Hill tried to make a B movie, as he successfully did before. DEAD FOR A DOLLAR is unfortunately just bad.