Customer Reviews

3000 Miles to Graceland

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(41)

 

 

I've read reviews whining because some people thought this movie was about Elvis. I guess I just don't see criticizing a movie because of an erroneous assumption, when the movie is GOOD. I mean, damn good. Kurt Russell, in not his first stint as Elvis (or in this case, an impersonator for the sake of a robbery) is wonderfully understated and kind of the calm during the storm in this movie. The storm? That would be Kevin Costner, who plays the baddest bad man of his career, I dare say. With all of the romantic hero roles he's played, this role goes a long way in showing the many talents of this actor. How he could be so bad and yet, likeable, is amazing to me. Courtney Cox has the trashy-sex-kitten-with-a-good-heart thing going on, and her son is too wise for his years in a realistic, yet sad, way. Yes, this movie has some violence. Is it more violent than other movies? Well, yeah, if you're talking about Bounce, it does. The point is, this movie is immensely entertaining, and never boring. And that's what movies are all about, yes?

I know that some people will say that this is a rip off of Ocean's Eleven, or Reservoir Dogs, or whatever pseudoflick they've watched lately, and there are some things alike, but this movie IS certainly cool entertainment at its best. Costner plays a psycho (who says he is Elvis's love son), and Russell a misfit, in the wrong place at the wrong time, who try to pull a heist, but it goes awry. People have said that it is too violent, that the shootings look made up, but, hey, that's the point: it looks crazy because it is supposed to be crazy; Courtney Cox leaves her child with Kurt because she was nuts, they fall in love because this IS a movie, it isn't supposed to be a real life story. Of course, everybody is entitled to have an opinion, but before you express yours: WATCH this film. Even if I'm not the biggest Kevin Costner fan, I mus admit that he is the best part and the best actor here. This movie IS the coolest new release

Let's break this down and serve it up faster and hotter than one of those fried banana-and-peanut-butter sandwiches The King himself loved so much: "3000 Miles to Graceland" is one of the fastest, tightest, hottest, gun-slingingest, ammo-pumpingest, dead sexy, little bloodbaths I've ever had the good fortune to come across.

One blue suede shoe over two hours long, director Demian Lichtenstein has created a white-hot little shot of pure cinematic adrenaline, cooked up with some of the tightest editing I've ever seen, brutal gun battles in which every bullet-riddled sequence keeps trying to up the ante on its predecessor, a Las Vegas casino (the Riviera) full of Elvis impersonators of every size, shape and sort, sexy Vegas showgirls with abs of steel, toe-tapping techno and rockabilly tunes to accompany the grand carnage, more double-crosses and twists than a West Virginia logging road, and high-voltage double barrelled starpower featuring Kevin Costner in his best role ever (as a villain!), Kurt Russell, Courteney Cox, Christian Slater, and David Arquette.

Besides, how can you fault a movie that takes the average action film's gunfight quotient, triples it, and delivers the gory goods in spades---*and* begins and ends with a techno scorpion deathmatch *and* a bloodbath? Answer: You can't.

The plot is action-movie simplicity itself: Russell plays drifter and con-man Michael Zane, who hooks up with fellow footpad Thomas Murphy (played to the rhinestone-plated hilt by Kevin Costner) and two other villains (Christian Slater and Bokeem Woodbine) to pull off a 3.2 million dollar heist at the Las Vegas Riviera casino during the International Elvis Impersonator Night.

Director Lichtenstein is my kind of director, too: he doesn't waste time with lots of exposition, but digs right into the main attraction and shoots our jumpsuit-costumed perfectly-coiffed Memphis drawling robbers into the casino, and "3000 Miles" starts out with one of the slickest, lead-pumpingest gunfights this side of Blue Hawaii, to say nothing of the surreal sequence with the helicopter set to the toe-tapping goodness of Elvis's "Such a Night".

Faster than you can fry up a Montecristo sandwich the casino gets robbed, crosses get doubled, conspirators get buried in shallow graves, Russell falls in with the sultry Cox and her son, the Feds get called in, and nothing but trouble looms for everyone involved. The editing here is tight, the gun-battles intense, the Elvis riffs yummy, the dancing girls delicious, and the climactic stand-off is roaring good fun, pitting Kevin Costner's drawling and well-armed lunatic against a small army of SWAT police.

Lichtenstein delivers the goods with tight editing and breathless action, making the finished product look like it cost three times as much as it did. The acting here is also all first rate, from Cox and Costner (who should play more villains), to Russell (who exudes pure unadulterated cool), to Slater, Woodbine, and a small squad of veteran character actors---including Jon Lovitz as a money launderer, Howie Long in yet *another* role as a hip thug, Ice-T as the hitman's hitman, and even Lorraine Cote, who has made a career playing an old lady surgically attached to a Las Vegas one-armed bandit.

If you're looking for deep and introspective, look elsewhere---but if you're looking for a rip-roaring, take-no-prisoners little hound dog of a movie that the King himself would have enjoyed, "3000 Miles to Graceland" is three thousand miles of pure delight.

JSG

I had the good luck of being invited to a preview of 3KMTG (while on a trip), and what some people had said would be another Tarantino-like movie (nihilistic movie-making full of childish dialogues that mean nothing and don't even entertain) turned out to be a very good and entertaining film. By now everybody knows the story: a bunch of goons (commanded by Costner) go to Las Vegas to rob a casino, which happens to go so bad that soon after the shooting and death of security guards and some pretty cool action sequences, all of them turn against each other. Kevin Costner (grrreat as a cold-blooded, mean badass) shows that despite the ill fashion of hating him (his only sin has been to overestimate the intelligence and sensibility of moviegoers) can portray other characters as well -or even better- than the next door middle-age man he's done a couple of times before. This IS great fun, open your minds, enjoy this movie for what it is: cool, hip road noir.

3000 Miles to Graceland isnt quite as dopey as the cover art featuring Kurt Russell and Kevin Kostner clad in Elvis regalia would suggest. Although it breaks little new ground in its already overworked genre, the film does emerge as an efficient crime drama thanks to a gallery of interesting characters, some impressive performances and Demian Lichtenstein's flashy directorial style.

After a shaky first half hour or so, in which the film seems to be struggling to establish its direction and tone, the movie miraculously hits its stride and, thereafter, never really lets up. The story centers around a band of ex-cons, united by their almost obsessive love for the King of rocknroll, who decide to knock over a Las Vegas casino dressed as Elvis impersonators. Predictably, the heist serves merely as the pretext for one of them, the obviously psychotic Murphy (Kostner), to cold-bloodedly eliminate his accomplices. The fly in his ointment turns out to be Michael Zane (Russell), the most principled one of the group, who survives the holocaust and spends his time, along with a pretty single mother and her precocious child, trying to keep out of Murphys way.

In terms of plotting, the film follows a pretty traditional route for this kind of film. However, the characters here seem a bit more fleshed out than they often do in some of those other films, particularly Zane, who seems caught between his criminal inclinations and his innate goodness as a human being. Cybil, the single mother played by Courteney Cox, likewise seems conflicted between genuine love and emotion and the excitement of easy wealth and a life lived on the edge. But it is Kostner as Murphy who sets the real tone for the film. His portrayal of a steely-eyed psychotic killer literally sets the teeth on edge, as he callously mows down scores of policemen and innocent bystanders who happen to get in his way. He makes for a truly soul-cringing villain. Russell, who played the actual legend back in his own younger, more halcyon days, makes a fascinating subtle counterpoint to Murphys unbridled ruthlessness.

The film is not, however, a total success. For one thing, the violence often seems excessively brutal, graphic and mean spirited for a movie that seems to want to be a lark of sorts (after all, a movie featuring robbers dressed as Elvis impersonators cant be bidding to be taken too seriously). Moreover, the plotting, which far too often relies on unlikely coincidences to keep it rolling, also borders frequently on the incoherent. Finally, the morally ambiguous ending doesnt really sit well with those of us who find a couple of thieves, no matter how charming they may appear to be, unlikely candidates for heroism in the context of a happy ending.

All in all, however, 3000 Miles to Graceland will probably appeal to those who like their crime dramas offbeat, quirky and filled with interesting characters.

Boy, do I agree with the other review: this movie is sooo good, so underrated that it's odd that it wasn't a bigger hit. The known story is: a group of mean, hard criminals go to Las Vegas to rob one of the casinos, the robbery goes fairly well, but they didn't know that the meanest, most badass of them doesn't believe in splitting the money. I have to say that I was surprised by the role of Kevin costner, psychotic characters are very common, violent ones too, but very few of them can come even close to the way Costner looks and acts in this film (there's a scene when he intimidates the guy who was going to clean the money, where you can really feel how threatening he is, how violent and psychotic he could get). Kudos for Kevin, even if he wasn't one of my favorite actors, he is one now. Forget the negative reviews, forget the pseudo-connoisseurs who want to show how clever and witty they are and how ignorant and fool we (audiences) are: this is a great way to spend two hours of thrills and fun, not everything has to be existencial or meaningful, this film is fun, entertainment, and Costner is greater than life here, cooler that any character you can remember. Watch this movie, buy the DVD, you'll be thanking you did. Really.

Oh come on, people! Some movies are simply meant to be mindless fun. Anyone who watches this movie and complains all the way through it is much more concerned with being a movie critic than with having fun watching a movie. Sure, it's violent. Sure, the characters are irresponsible and totally insane. Sure, Costner's character is beyond evil and completely over the top. Were you really expecting intelligent character development? Then YOU'RE WATCHING THE WRONG MOVIE! The mindlessness of the film was simply reflective of the mindlessness of the storyline and of every character in it. That's the point, folks!

This movie was just plain fun. It had some witty dialogue, it had some fun music that fit the film well, and the action was suitably so far over the top that you couldn't get depressed by believing that it might actually happen. I mean, did you really want them to be serious about killing 20 or 30 security guards in a casino? Of course not! It's just a story, folks! I mean, anyone that doesn't enjoy a casino full of Elvis impersonators is just plain determined to not have fun at the movies. If you're not offended by violence and immoral characters, then see this movie and have a little fun.

I don't mean to badmouth Costner, but he has had a bad run of appearing in less than great films. Plus, he can sometimes turn in some pretty poor excuses for acting. Well, He is amazing as the real bad guy in this film! I was so shocked and amazed at his performance. This is undoubtedly the best role to date for him. He is very evil in his role of Thomas Murphy, killer, robber, and he thinks Elvis is his father. Kurt Russell does a sort of reprise of his Elvis performance. I always thought that the Elvis movie he did was the best one, and he was the best Elvis.(next to the real KING). The movie is full of fast-paced action and comedy, and there is also a love story thrown in. 5 criminals, a few fresh out of prison, decide to rob a casino because no one else robs casinos - It's original - The hotel they decide to rob happens to be in the midst of the INTERNATIONAL ELVIS CONVENTION. They all don their Elvis attire. Christian Slater and David Arquette are also part of the crew. They hit the casino up for over $3 million. The money seems to switch hands alot in the film after they all split up and go their own way. Courtney Cox plays the love interest for Kurt Russell. I am not a big fan of hers, but she is actually very good as the sleazy/waitressy type who is a single mother raising a budding Criminal. I was really entertained by this film. I have to agree with the other person here who reviewed the movie! So, in closing, for those contemplating whether or not to spend money on this film - I would say it is most definitely worth the price you pay. If you are in the mood for a good action/comedy caper, it is an excellent choice.

It was great to see Kevin Costner and Christian Slater playing in yet again another movie together. Throw in Courtney Cox, Kurt Russel, and (who was that cute little blue-eyed boy?-soon to be the newest brad pitt) you've got an awesome movie. The shooting scenes were awesome, they even had a few car chases. The beginning of the movie was fast-paced and took a few twists, and you're thinking "okay, now what is the rest of the movie going to be about?", but it slowly shows you the plot. Anyone who goes to see this for the great action will love it. Anyone who goes to see it for Elvis, won't. It's not a movie about Elvis. Sure, Kevin Costner is a huge Elvis fan in the movie, but that's about it.

THis Movie falls in the category of Bad Movies that I love. It ranks right up there with Point Break, Tango and Cash and Road House. THe premise/storyline of each of these movies were ridiculous, the acting was decent at best and the action over the top. But I could watch them in their entirety any day of the week. I watched 3000 Miles the other night and totally anticipated that I would turn it off after 5 minutes. Guess what? I loved the flick! I know that I shouldn't, but I did. It is a new entry to my infamous list.

Costner finally played a true bad guy and he did a great job at it. Russell was solid as always. Courtney Cox? She wore nice outfits.

Was this movie Hamlet? No. Was it fun in an incredibly sadistic type of way? Absolutely.

If you are looking for an action/adventure movie, that let's you turn your gray matter off for just under two hours of sustained mayhem and aren't too squeamish or worried about the technical finer points of a plotline, than this is your movie. Howie Long and Jon Lovitz are in this film for god sakes! What was anyone expecting?

I know five stars is too many. But this movie was fun dammit.

Settle down people.