A gang of criminals come together with one goal: to get rich fast. Like in a few minutes fast. How? By robbing a casino dressed as Elvis impersonators during the 2001 International Elvis Convention in Las Vegas. Except these guys don’t have guitars in those cases. They’re armed with enough weapons to take down a small army.
Interested?
Well, it’s not exactly your typical cops and robbers movie, or is it? As usual, there is a love interest involved that can conveniently be used at a later time. 3,000 Miles To Graceland sets up Kurt Douglas and Courtney Cox, who has a young son. They meet before the casino goes down, and Cox, for whatever reason, tries to hook her claws into the stranger before he becomes an instant millionaire.
When Murphy (Kevin Costner) shows up to get Douglas, everything changes. Costner has in tow a few characters you will know, like Christian Slater and David Arquette. They don’t do much but add a few funny one-liners, especially Arquette, and a few plot twists.
The actual robbing of the casino is fast-paced and full of killing. I’d have to wager that the body count might have been well over a few dozen. As they mow down everything and anything in sight, they make their way out without much trouble.
The robbing of the casino is just the setup for the rest of the film, which is a countrywide chase where money changes hands and then changes hands again and again and again and, well, you get the picture. It’s pretty much everyone for themselves.
There are enough plot twists to remind you of Reindeer Games, but this movie is much better than that film, just for the actors alone. Costner can be mighty irritating, but as the supreme bad ass, and possibly a long lost son of the King himself, he is quite good. Kurt Russell isn’t bad either. Cox is as sexy as you’d expect. Although the film isn’t something worthy of an award and isn’t going to be called art any time soon, it really is a decent film.
There are many lulls and painfully dramatic scenes in 3,000 Miles To Graceland. There are also a few things that pick it up, like the action sequences. One thing I will say is do not bring kids to this film. It’s very, very bloody and there are a lot of bodies left in a row after these guys make their way through, especially Murphy who could almost be called a serial killer except that there is no method to his killing madness.
Watch, enjoy, but check your ideals, brain, and gun at the door.
+ charlie craine
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.