Review of “68 Kill”- Gubler’s New Movie Featured at SXSW! *SPOILERS*
Review of “68 Kill”- Gubler’s New Movie Featured at SXSW! *SPOILERS*
“… as for the advice, you can keep it.” – Chip
Starring: Matthew Gray Gubler and AnnaLynne McCord
Directed and Screenplay by: Trent Haaga
This film was featured in the Midnighters category at SXSW 2017, which is where I got to see it, three times so far, with the cast and director in attendance. There’s one more showing on S. Lamar on Thu, 11am. GO SEE IT!
From the opening shot of Gube as Chip’s enamored face watching his lady-love while she sleeps, to the closing shot of his flowered flip-flop shod foot pressing the accelerator, this is one helluva ride.
The object of his desire, Liza, energetically played by McCord, is batshit crazy, no doubt. We don’t actually know that right at first, but we do see that she’s aggressively hostile and abusive, and that our hapless hero Chip likes it that way.
From then on this film introduces us to a host of characters that Liza is only happy to dispatch, if it will get her closer to the 68 thousand bucks she wants to steal from her disgusting sugar daddy. What’s that, you say? Yep, Liza supplements her and Chip’s income by selling sex to some gross guy while Chip is out making an honest living by emptying septic systems.
So sugar daddy makes the mistake of bragging about his cash stash during one of their ‘visits’, and her heist plan is hatched. She steals a couple of guns, tells Chip he’ll be the cutest burglar ever (he actually really is, and Gubler is excellent in this role, completely open and real, and riveting in all his scenes), and convinces him to go along with it, as long as nobody gets hurt.
Of course, nothing is as easy as it seems, not only do people get hurt – they get dead – by the now fully unleashed psychopath Liza’s hand. Chip is horrified and can’t believe he’s been roped into this, and to make matters worse, now there’s one girl named Violet (Alisha Boe) that Liza didn’t kill in the trunk of their getaway car. Good thing too, because she becomes very important to Chip later.
There’s sex and violence dished out in equal measure here, and as Chip slowly comes into his own, we’re pulled along on his increasingly horrible hero’s journey. The supporting characters are all excellent (special nod to Sam Eidson who plays Liza’s repulsive and psychotic serial killer brother Dwayne, perfectly). Morally reprehensible and void of conscience is always a good recipe for a film villain, and this movie has several. Sprinkled throughout are generous doses of humor and the laughs never feel forced. It’s a mix that’s tricky to get right, and director Trent Haaga succeeds on all levels.
68 Kill is one of the most tightly wound murder comedies I’ve seen, and the payoff is extremely satisfying. There’s a running empowerment thread for nearly every female in the cast, and it’s rare in movies like this that usually tend to objectify and weaken the female characters. From the gas station attendant that forces Chip to orally pleasure her, to the menacing kohl-eyed leader (Sheila Vand) of a pack of sickos that hold Chip prisoner while they torture him (and here I did have to look away. Seeing MGG savagely battered isn’t my cuppa, fake or not.), all the women are in charge.
All in all , this movie comes highly recommended if what you’re in the mood for is a wholly funny, revved-up, fast-paced, bloody bowl of awesome murdery death.
Awesome review hun!!
I’ve read the book so it was no spoilers for me.
I have wondered though if they had kept the sex in it..
as the book was descriptive at times when it came to those parts..( hence why i thought it was a completely different role for Matthew than we are used to seeing)
I can’t remember the book being humorous, so i look forward to seeing a little humor added to this movie!
Glad you got to see it and meet the man himself, he is awesome a sweet!
xxxx
Yes, he very much is, both of those things.
And thank you, glad you like the review! Yes, I was glad to see him diverge from his norm to such an extent, finally. The actor who plays Liza said at the first Q&A that she was proud to be the one to ‘pop his cinematic cherry’, as it were. And they talked about it being awkward to film, but fun too. Gube said he wore like four pairs of underwear during their sex scenes because he didn’t want to offend her, and she was “Hey, if I’m sitting on top of you with no shirt on, there’d BETTER be something going on down there!” Haha, she was great.
Matthew also said that he didn’t even know it was a comedy until Trent (the director) told him.
Ha! There you are again, you keep popping up – great review! What a fun week. I wrote a review through my lens which is trauma and intuition…all my pics are on there too. My husband is a photographer for sx so he got a lot of great pics of the second night’s Q&A too. Bet the first night was fun, I didn’t have a badge, and knew it would be packed so I couldn’t get in. I thought it was great to see everyone the second night and get to chat, I didn’t talk to AnnaLynne that night which was funny, but got to talk with her a bit on night 3. Her work to end slavery/trafficking is pretty amazing. Did you go to tonight’s showing? HA! If you did you beat me. I stopped at 3. But each viewing brought something so different. Anyway, if you would like to read my review (there’s some stuff on there that you may appreciate about MMG’s energy, would be interested to know what you got, if the same thing…since you are obviously a great fan!) Here’s the link to my review: http://www.travelingpsychicsupperclub.com/2017/03/18/68-kill-trauma-a-cabbie-hat-and-third-times-the-charm/ – maybe I’ll see you around town some time! 🙂
Hey, howdy! And thank you! I’ll read yours when I get home tonight, for sure. Yes, I too stopped at three, but loved it just as much all 3x, and like you said, took something else away each night. Matthew is amazing in it and everyone really BRINGS it.
We should make it a point to get together soon, I’d welcome that! Cheers!
Ha! Yes lets get together for sure, are you on twitter? I’m @tpsyDeb, I think we’ve talked on twitter before (terrible memory ha ha hard to remember…) but PM me, we’ll meet up – I’m down at the Capitol quite a bit. Grab coffee or something…Chilantro….mmmmm! PM me!
Yep! I’m Willowy04 on twitter and we have communicated. So glad you got to have fun at SX, I did too. I read your review and loved it! Excellent insight, and I appreciated you sharing your psychic impressions of everyone. I totally understood the Matthew one, and felt that too! Like just an open soul, with a necessary barrier. Super interesting!
Thanks for providing a guest review at my blog. You are a doll, Tari.
https://popcorninmybra.wordpress.com/2017/03/15/guest-film-review-68-kill-by-tari-jordan/
No YOU ARE!
Thanks for your review and the pictures.
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