Billy (Ryan Golembeske), Bo (Derek Watson), Skip (Michael Stone) and Lt. Baby Killer (Bobby Vigeant) are soldiers gone wild in Afghanistan. Not above having extremely crude and disturbing conversations while pissing on the dead bodies of terrorists, they’re the kind of crew that take a bit too much pleasure in the damage they’re dishing out. When the soldiers come across some locals just hanging out, the soldiers find themselves torn between following orders and not killing innocents or being a bit more creative to come up with a way to justify the wanton violence they’re so eager to dispense.
Dirty Gun is over-the-top offensive and crude throughout, but it’s that hyper-real quality to it all that elevates it from just being a mean-spirited, dirty cinematic experience. This is like a big, nasty cartoon where any war-related extreme one can think of is explored with a dark guffaw.
While most of my reactions to what was said or done on screen were usually ones of shock, I did get a good laugh when the film decided to translate the locals’ conversation as if they were a bunch of surfer dudes. It’s a very weird touch that cracked me up for some reason, and it is also indicative of how absurd the film can get, even when violence isn’t included.
This film is not to be taken all that seriously; the characters are hardly human, and everything is so batshit insane, it’s hard to get all that seriously offended due to the lack of realism. And for the record, if this is realistic… we’re f****d, friends.
Overall, I think most folks would find something in this film that is offensive in some way, but I also think that’s the point. I have this image in my head of the filmmakers sitting down and thinking, “You know, we could have them say this, but what could they say that would be even worse? Let’s do that!” Is it meant to entertain, subversively slap you in the face or both? Regardless of how you feel about the content, however, the film really looks good and goes for a visual look that is gonzo grindhouse nuts. It’s a live-action war cartoon from Hell.
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