Admittedly, The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot movie has the most unique title for just about any movie that came out in 2018. Written and directed by Robert D. Krzykowski, the movie stars Sam Elliott as Calvin Barr, who is an ordinary man with quite an extraordinary past. As a young man, he was able to hunt down Hitler. Now he is needed again to hunt down a dangerous legendary creature. The title of this movie will give you everything about the movie you want to know. The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot (2018) movie review
The problem with this movie is that it looks great, it has a good cast who know how to act well, it has a weird title that could promise a lot of weird grindhouse-esq action…but it never develops it. Most of the movie is filled with Sam Elliot (who is a great character) reminiscing about his past. He is living a solitary life that is repetitive and boring with his dog, and just moping around. The flashbacks, while good looking, are not entertaining. A bunch of things happen and we cut back to Calvin eating breakfast with his dog. It’s like the director was trying to make it edgy but lost steam as soon as older Calvin was in the picture. While I was watching the movie, I almost wanted to scream “do something!!” for the first ⅔ of the movie. Again, well filmed but boring.
For the last ⅓ of the movie (about 20 or so min), we see some action but it was not filmed well. It was over in about 10 min which doesn’t live to the absurd premise it seemed to offer. At times, the movie was trying to tag at our heartstrings but making Calvin a sympathetic war hero, but that also was never fully developed and was offered more of a side note for the viewer to see. He is definitely changed by his past – finding it hard to show complex emotion, being an upstanding citizen, and being overall a tight-lipped individual that has a gruff speaking voice and a past that he doesn’t talk about.
Throughout the movie we start to question the director’s true intent when he made this movie. Was it supposed to be a drama, a character study, a cheesy schlockfest, or an art movie that we just didn’t get? It could be any number of things. It’s not an action movie or comedy as not much happens on either side of that spectrum. It is also not linear like a typical movie as it jumps around quite a lot which can be distracting. However, some moments like Calvin’s proposal to his girlfriend Maxine (played by Caitlin FitzGerald) are well done. It shows Calvin as this awkward guy who obviously has a tough time showing his true emotions. Especially during a time when he knows he will be separated from Maxine.
Overall, the movie is a beautiful mess. It never picks up to the point of offering us a satisfying end. It is more of a tease and those can be dull and annoying. For a directorial debut, the movie is a solid effort. It just needs to be flushed out more and have characters who have some good back and forth dialogue before we are shown action. We need something solid to keep us awake if the intention is to have an action scene that lasts 10 min at the end. I never look at my phone when watching movies but I did for this one. Shame too since I am a big fan of Sam Elliot.
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot (2018) movie review
