American Muscle

source: American Muscle

..is the reason why I gave this 1 out of 10. And that is quite fair as it's really the only attractive thing about the whole damn production. The movie was slow, very slow. The action lacked everything an actionscene needs. The effects were all computer generated including some very badly done muzzle flashes (even I can do better..) and very very amateur. And worst of all : The lead actor couldn't even act to save his own life. He just tries to look mean all the time and it just doesn't come across. There are occasional shots (not even scenes) where he comes off less bad. But I'm talking occasional seconds here and there. The director is either scared of this man as well or he's just a 12 year old kid who's just finished his school project. That's what most of this reminded me of. Give some dimwit a bag of money and a box of cameratricks and let him film the script his 8 year old brother wrote. I started watching this knowing what to expect, hoping for some gratuitous violence, occasional ridiculous sexscene and downright cool crap. I was hoping for a grindhouse type production. Well. Hellride sucked, but it's a complete masterpiece compared to this turd. An absolute waste of time.

American Muscle (2014) is a disgusting movie, terrible acting, bad storyline, annoying characters, very bad acting ... Somehow someone wants to make a cheap movie like American Muscle, its typical story, revenge and filled with prostitutes and actors who only show off muscles and faces alone and can not act at all in this movie ... Do not waste your time to watch This junk film

The film opens up with a bunch of bad guys with KISS makeup driving a car with a pentagram painted on the hood. They go to rob a place and the next thing we know John Falcon (Nick Principe) is getting out of prison to enact revenge on the rest of his gang because....Well we don't know why, but we get bits and pieces in the flashbacks. John wants to kill his brother Sam (Todd Farmer) and get his Darling (Robin Sydney) wife/girlfriend back. Darling claims she likes to do drugs and have sex. Okay. Who doesn't. That is pretty much it. The film is a grindhouse. Plenty of sex, nudity, and killing. Heads getting blown off with a shotgun, naked tattoo ladies, a strip joint, and drugs. F-bomb, sex, and nudity (Robin Sydney, Kerry Krogstad, Carolyn Dorsey, Malice McMunn + strippers)

I have to agree with Maurice Grant's review. The screenwriter knew exactly what he was writing and the director did a great job capturing the scenes, the faces - and well, other stuff. I truly got what I was looking for this evening while actually not expecting it. The movie is well cut too with perfect length, technically quite well done without pretending to be some kind of pseudo-70s movie. It's filmed in HD, it's clear, the colors are precise and great. I guess the director likes the work of his colleague from the TV show "Breaking Bad", while carrying it a bit farer in this movie. I can't help myself but it felt like the whole crew had fun doing this movie, while they still kept bloody serious and honest about the genre. The actors might hate me for saying this but I've a heart for them. They did pretty well too, showing a honest performance and were playing well along. There are bad bad movies, there are really terrible bad movies - and there are good "bad" movies. This one belongs to the last. Just hit the nail for my taste.

I have always been a fan of films that wants us to root for an anti-hero.In our world of good guy wear white ,i like movies that feature a less-than-perfect hero.American films don't do that as much as films from other countries.I was lucky enough to see this film with friends down south,and i was happy i did.Director Ravi Dhar has weaved a simple tale of revenge that,if you like this sub-genre , should be seen.He will be accused of doing a blue-plate special ,with little complexity ,and not much story,but its really just a matter of simple story telling ,and whats so wrong with that?. Danny Trejo says "A movie needs 3 things,Blood ,Bullits ,and Boobs " ,and this film has that.A tale of a bad guy going after some even worse bad guys.That simple !. Actor/writer Nick Principe kicks ass and checks off names with quiet style ,and bare-knuckle flair.Todd Farmer is the supporting actor and gives a decent part in this potboiler.Good production values ,and lots of action gave this movie the meat between the bread for me,and the guys i watched it with.So ,its not hard to guess what happen;s next ,but with movies like this ,thats par for the course.Gore,girls ,and guns,this one should be seen if you like action ,plain and simple.The comparison to Fast,or others like it is not really a fair one,but in thats it is an action/revenge story,thats on the money.Its got my vote for action film of 2014,and with that said,ignore the low rating here on I.M.D.B. ,and be brave ,do yourself a solid ,and see this one...if actions your thing ,you wont be let down!~ . Remember," If you owe,You Pay" ! ! ! .

Grindhouse YES PLEASE "American Muscle" is a revenge film. It's Stupid fun, with blood, violence ,sex, and nudity. It's 70s style and coolness, for true movie buffs. Anti hero seeks revenge

I watched this film with several friends, who are all fans of horror and genuine grind house films. I was the only one who lasted throughout the entire crap-fest. The lead character John Falcon (whose name coincidently is a tad too similar to the writer, John Fallon), gets out of prison after 10 years. His only desires are to get revenge on those who put him there, and to get back to his wife. Seems reasonable enough. This is where the film stops making any semblance of sense and becomes just gratuitous sex and violence, along with terrible acting and atrocious writing. If a man is desperate to get back to his wife,then why does he have sex with any woman he encounters? This makes zero sense. Even more so, his wife is having sex with anyone she meets. And I do mean anyone. Male and female. So if she is such a *, then why is Fallon, err, I mean Falcon, so eager to return to her? Another problem I had was how all of the women are depicted in this film. All of them are made out to be whores, only looking for sex. All of them. John Fallon has some serious issues with women, to say the least, which is his business and that is fine. Just please leave that out of your screenplays. I was hoping this atrocity would be saved by Todd Farmer, cast in a role which I thought he would shine in. Instead, he fell short and came across as meek when he was supposed to be a bad ass. Perhaps the sub par acting of the others in this "film" affected his performance. Either way, it just fell apart long before it was over. This film tries way too hard to be a grind house revenge film. To call it such is a huge insult to the genre. Nick Principe as the doppelganger for Fallon falls hideously short in convincing us that he is a ruthless killing machine. His acting is wooden, and his appearance as a sex symbol is laughable at best. And that voice? Never has there been a more annoying attempt at "toughness" voice-over since Christian Bale's Dark Knight. I have heard this guy speak in films. He should have used his own voice rather than try too hard to be a tough guy. But I doubt even that would have saved this film. If you are a fan of Fallon or Principe, you may enjoy this. If you enjoy gratuitous violence and sleazy sex with bad acting, it may be for you. But if you are expecting some kind of storyline and decent acting, keep looking. Perhaps try the film Faster, which this one so closely resembles that Tony and Joe Gayton should take note. Imitation is a form of flattery,but not in this case. This film is garbage.

For almost any movie to work, you have to like the lead actor. I couldn't stand him. All he did was grunt and say the same things like "Where is she?" and "I've been waiting 10 years for this." This movie is a straight revenge movie that lacks any suspense. The lead actor easily handles everybody. He gets shot and stabbed, no problem. He's like a cyborg, nothing affects him. A number of times the bad guys get the drop on him with their gun. But rather than shoot the big bastard, noooooo, let's fight it out. That's another thing, poorly staged fight scenes. They are worse than what Steven Seagal fight scenes have been the past decade. Also, its the old cliché that he never misses shooting someone, but the others can't hit a 6'7" 300 lb guy from 10 ft away. This movie fails at so many levels. The best thing about this movie is its short, credits roll at 72 minutes.

Start with a hero who is big and strong, covered with tattoos and vicious looking, who kills without remorse and has a true cause: To save his wife from the clutches of his evil brother who betrayed him 10 years ago. Add in the trashy hot chicks and the resulting heedless adultery, the drugs and alcohol, the rampant killing of bad guys and a few mostly innocent folks as well, bikers (never forget the bikers), drug money and lots of guns.. And ta da, you have yourself a Mantasy. A compilation of all the animalistic, pointless behaviors associated with big, strong, dangerous looking men as they rage through the neighborhood being.. well, stereotypically manly. The idea is that men don't think. They react on instinct. Revenge, hate, rage, lust and delusion. It could be fun, but this time it wasn't. In order to make this style of film really work, the hero (as it is entirely hero-centric) needs to be someone that the viewer can empathize with. If there is no empathy, there is no entertainment. This hero is set up as a showpiece more than a character. I think the writers and director wanted to believe that he was the perfect manly character: with the perfect manly name, the right sized muscles, the tough looking exterior and tattoos, and doing all the right manly things like winning the fights, killing the bad guys, boppin all the ladies, fighting for justice, etc. But unfortunately all those shiny archetypes of the manly hero are tarnished when we add in all the little blemishes to his heroic luster: He cheats on his wife, he kills even mostly innocent people without remorse, he is clearly delusional on some level and irritatingly fatalistic, etc, etc. And we have a hero that you just don't feel inclined to love. All in all, the film was simply just unsatisfying. The acting was not great, the plot development was handled as well as it could be for a plot that really makes little sense, and the camera work was only shaky when it really counted. It just didn't entertain, but instead skirted along in shallow waters, so to speak. It never achieved convincing depth, which is a shame because it tried too hard.