Good, Bad & Ugly Review: No One Lives


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Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 32% (Critics) / 48% (Audience)
Directed By: Ryuhei Kitamura
Written By: David Cohen
Starring: Luke Evans, Adelaide Clemens, Derek Magyar, Lindsey Shaw and Lee Tergesen
Studio: Anchor Bay Films

Synopsis: A gang of ruthless highway killers kidnap a wealthy couple traveling cross country only to shockingly discover that things are not what they seem. – (Source)

The Good:
Luke Evans was really good as the psychopath with a twisted moral code and a ridiculous talent for killing people. He was able to give the character of Driver certain charisma that belied the nutjob under the surface.
And director Ryuhei Kitamura came up with some inventive and bloody ways to kill people.

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The Bad:
This movie is really really stupid. I mean insultingly stupid at some points. The characters in this movie behave in totally nonsensical ways and it is impossible to really care about any of their well being when Driver decides to start killing them.
It also saddens me that Lee Tergesen (amazing as Tobias Beecher on the HBO series OZ) is relegated to the third or fourth lead in a movie of this quality. C’mon casting directors! Save Mr. Tergesen from straight-to-DVD hell…he deserves better.
And Laura Ramsey as Driver’s companion was just awful. Her acting range went from stunned bewilderment to near catatonia.

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The Ugly
Two moments of over the top silliness really stand out in this movie: Driver hiding inside of the body of a particularly large man he just killed and no one noticing despite the fact that the man’s friends spend several scenes carrying his dead body from one spot to another and the extended catfight that breaks out between two of the women being hunted by Driver right in the middle of Driver hunting them.

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Final Verdict: This movie is just plain goofy (and really it should be expected since this was made in conjunction with the WWE film division) and requires that the viewer switch off his or her brain for the 90 minutes that this film runs. Luke Evans gives more to his performance than a movie of this type really deserves but overall it is just a really goofy movie and if you go into it expecting heightened levels of goofiness you may end up enjoying it.

Grade: C-

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