There are bad films and there are ‘so-bad-they’re-good’ films. ‘Shotgun’ falls – weirdly – somewhere between the two. Part of me wants to say that it was truly the worst film I’ve ever seen. But then I am I charge of the remote control. I could have turned it off any time I wanted, yet I didn’t – I stuck with it until the end. I guess that means I took some strange form of enjoyment out of it? I guess if I had to describe ‘Shotgun’ I’d call it a ‘Lethal Weapon’ clone, only filmed on the budget of £1.59. It’s about two (mismatched) cops (one black, one white) on the trail of a brutal serial killer (as opposed to the kind and gentle serial killers, of course!).
Now, normally this is the point in the review where I say something like ‘So… if you’re a fan of ‘buddy-cop’ movies then you’ll probably get something out of it.’ I know it’s not the most original premise, but it can’t be THAT bad, can it? The answer to that question is ‘Yes.’The problem with this film isn’t its lack of originality, it’s the budget. You could almost mistake this film as some sort of ‘student’ effort. Seriously, I made a few short films at college and some of them look more professionally-done than this! Almost every scene is a set. Yes, I know most Hollywood films are made on sound stages for ease of production. However, here, you can almost see the boom mic hanging down – it’s that obvious. Then there are the actors. Or should I say ‘actors?’ They can’t act. Again, I get the impression that if you grabbed the nearest guy at the pub and stuck him in front of a camera, he’d pull of a more convincing ‘cop in crisis’ performance that the lead actor (plus he’d probably look less like a hobo-Beegee). And don’t get me started on the action. There’s the odd squib full of blood that just about looks passable, but when it comes to anything involving cars they just film the ‘chase’ at normal speed then fast forward the footage, giving off some sort of ‘Benny Hill’ vibe to the scene.
Overall, it’s really hard to recommend this film to anyone. I only continued to sit through it just to see how bad it actually got. By the time the credits rolled, the major emotion this film invoked in me was pity. I actually felt sorry for the cast and crew who made this mess. They must have known that the budget and talent wasn’t really there in order to make something that would compete with the proper Hollywood blockbusters. They could have played this to their strengths and turned it into a parody (it worked for ‘Loaded Weapon!’). Unfortunately, they seemed to act (and I use the word ‘act’ loosely) like the truly believed this was some sort of gritty epic action movie that would stand the test of time. Sadly, it’s an awful movie. If you’re looking for an action movie, there are better. If you’re looking for a buddy-cop movie, there are better. If you’re looking for a serial killer movie, there are better. The only reason you’d want to watch this is if you’re a huge fan of bad movies and just want to say that you’ve watched what possibly could be one of the worst films ever made, just so you can win an argument in the pub at a later date.
2/10 Scuzzier than the leftover goo from a Queen alien's egg sack
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