The Devil Comes to Kansas City

Good movie!

Good movie!

source: The Devil Comes to Kansas City

Wow... I was bored 95% of the watch, and was moaning in psychological pain for the rest. This movie could be used like the torture implements that Ben Gavin's character humerously mishandles. The first failure is that there is no real story and the plot is confusing nonsense. It wants to be smart so badly; instead this movie simply cut up a couple of great movies and legendary stories and haphazardly played madlibs with them, such as Goethe's Faust, before it attempts to abuse and destroy the legend of Robert Johnson. Honestly, this story feels malicious in its tired theft. The characters are two dimensional cliched ripoffs. It is a shame: Some of these actors are good, so any real failings by the actors must be due to the lack of vision and bad directing. Their performances as a whole lack consistent tone or internal reasoning. That is a writing and directing failure. It isn't all dreck, however: the Camera work lighting costumes and sets are good. Kansas City looks like a fun town. Overall: Hard pass. Save your time and money.

The only thing that could've been better was some of the acting!!! There are just a few small parts where they look like the actors were just handed their scripts and read it 10 minutes before they went to shoot that scene! The graphics could've been a little better considering we are in 2023 and if someone can go viral acting like they've seen Bigfoot on their iPhone then you'd think the director that had way more money for a budget to make an actual movie could've done way better but it's really not that bad but it just definitely been a lot better!!!!!!! Overall tho, I did like the storyline so I continued to watch and it really wasn't a complete waste of my time because if it was that bad I would've never watched the whole movie so it was a decent watch.

I was pretty impressed that so much happened in less than two hours. Timing was also pretty well done. Movie did not feel slow or rushed. My only minor gripe is the acting from some of the characters and the special effects could have been better. If you can look past that though, this is definitely worth a watch. As far as the content of the story, it was the all too familiar daughter getting kidnapped and dad with tactical experience going out to save her. What makes this one stand out a bit though is the slightly supernatural aspect to it. The supernatural part though, does not steal too much spotlight.

Paul Wilson (Ben Gavin) is a vet who has settled down in Iowa where he's running a farm. When his wife is killed and his diabetic daughter is kidnapped in Kansas City, he reveals to his friends that he's way more than the man they believed as he unleashes all of his mercenary skills on those who took his girl. Also: a former friend from Iraq, Randall Johnson (Robert Coppage), is the grandson of Robert Johnson, whose deal at the crossroads didn't just take his soul, but the souls of every male child in his family afterward. Of course, they all get superpowers because the Devil (Kirk Fox) has a weird sense of humor. He also likes to play cards against John Wayne and John Wayne Gacy. Directed and written by Michael P. Blevins, this is a movie that's never really sure of its tone and if we should get behind Paul or be afraid of him. Even by the end of the movie,. He's proved that he's pretty much an idiot and for all his military skills has no idea how to plan things. My wife walked in and saw some of this and said that I should tell all of you that "This looks like the movie that a bunch of indy pro wrestlers would make." Obviously, this is the vision of its creator and as such, way cooler to watch than a formula film. I'll always choose not the best acting and quick changes in tone over boring. Also: How did they get Jerry from Parks and Rec to play Paul's dad? And how happy is Kevin Porter to be in two Tubi originals -- this and Dante's Hotel -- in the same weekend?

I struggled to decide the number of stars to give this movie, but ultimately landed on the percentage of the movie I deemed to not be boring. To be fair, as a born and raised Kansas Citian and lover of so-bad-its-good-cinema, I absolutely enjoyed the entire ride that was The Devil Came to Kansas City; however, if you didn't live here or know and frequent the KC locations that are featured prominently (and I mean prominently) it might be boring to you. I do feel there just might be enough here to entertain - and almost certainly bewilder - the average bad movie viewer. First, and let's just get this out of the way, the movie is terrible. The dialogue is sub-comprehensable for anyone with a functional brain and it will be difficult - and sometimes painful - keeping track of what is being said by the actors and pairing that against the plot (I'm using plot here loosely). Some of the acting though is commendable - the main bad guy chews the scenery with what he's given, Jim O'Heir (Jerry/Gerry/Larry/Terry from Parks and Rec) shockingly drops a mf-bomb, and Kirk Fox as the titular Devil is - I must emphasize COMPARABLY - an oasis of sanity in an otherwise mind-numbing journey into madness. Outside of these performances, it is tough sledding, but certainly not the worst part of the movie. So let's get into the meat of what is wrong here - the story. What is the story? One hour and thirty-seven minutes later I am not entirely sure. At its core, it's Taken-Comes-to-Kansas City, but the locally produced writer/director decides to take a metaphysical (and meta-sensical?) detour for the audience with unintroduced characters and delerious sub-plotlines that (spoilers) ultimately turnout to be the most important element to the overall story. Writing this review, I am a few adult beverages in at one of the most important KC locations in the movie (ahem, the workers here had no idea the movie was filmed here so did not fully appreciate me delivering the secret password to access the "VIP room") and I feel like may have undersold just how bat guano crazy this movie really is. The first 70% of the movie is a somewhat boring, semi-procedural slog (where it is proceeding, who knows) punctuated by moments of sheer terror to the language processing portion of the brain, but the final act is so God-damned (I am looking at you, Fidel Castro) bonkers, it just might be worth the amount of suck to get there. If you love KC (and the Chiefs!) give it an asterisked* go; if not, watch at your own risk!

In 1934 Clarksdale, Ms. Robert Johnson sells his soul to the devil for a guitar that will make him famous. In present day the story shifts to Paul Wilson (Ben Gavin) an Iowan framer and former mercenary. When his wife is shot an daughter kidnapped by sex traffickers in Kansas City, Paul and two of his friends leap into action. At the crime scene, he meets an old friend (Robert Coppage) who helps him out being a descendant of Robert Johnson. (Compton Menace). The plot was not good it lacked cohesion. Where did Paul find that garage in Kansas City? The acting was sad. Guide: F-word. Nudity. No sex.

I really did not expect this would be the type of movie it turned out to be. I saw the title and the word crossroad and the first thing that occurred to me was Robert Johnson. He died nine years before I was born, but as an almost young adult, I not only heard a recording of him playing the guitar and singing but I became a fan. You add crossroad and devil, so I thought the movie was about him. Turned out to be a whole lot more violent that I expected, not my type of movie, but I made an exception. Glad I did. He was indeed mentioned but not in the way I thought. If you don't like a LOT of violence, this is not the movie for you, but I grew up watching horror movies, so it was fine with me.