Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane [DVD]

Good murder mystery on a low budget.

For an indie pic, this movie was a lot of fun. There's not a lot of production value and some of the acting could be described as wooden, if you're being generous. I really enjoyed it, my friends really enjoyed it. Movie watching is supposed to be a form of entertainment; some people take it way too seriously. Meet this movie with middling expectations and you might find it surprisingly enjoyable. I sure did.

for a B level movie, it is damn good!

This is a movie that will keep you guessing as to what's going to happen next.Great Indy film that is full of twists and turns.I loved it!

Its not lying about all the flying bullets, Lol....its a great shootem' up movie...I know we liked it.

I've immensely enjoyed Joe Carnahan's other works, particularly Narc and Smokin' Aces, and count Narc as one of the very best crime dramas in recent memory. When I heard Carnahan had kicked off his career back in '98 by writing, directing, and starring in a low-budget indie in the vein of Robert Rodriguez' El Mariachi, I got stoked at the idea of what he could do with a small budget (less than $8,000) and complete creative control. So I popped in Blood Guts Bullets and Octane one day and prepared to drink in its indie goodness. The result? A cocktail with the sweet flavor of ambition but the aftertaste of a Quentin Tarantino/David Mamet knock-off. It's not that the dialogue doesn't work; if anything it works too much, is too frenetic, too hyper. Whereas early Tarantino and Mamet use language to explore human emotion and build character, Carnahan uses it to make his characters sound snappy and witty but without revealing any true depth. He seems willing to have the characters use as many words as possible to get their ideas across, trying to mask it as characterization. It's like asking your buddy what he wants on his pizza, and your buddy proceeds to itemize every topping imaginable and why pepperoni trumps them all. Dude, just say you want pepperoni and let's phone it in. It gets frustrating, for sure. The non-linear format of BGB&O is another nod to Tarantino. Carnahan has two or three storylines going, another tip of the hat to all the hip post-modern crime indies that cropped up after Tarantino hit the scene in '92. The acting is pretty solid, especially Carnahan himself, who has some surprising acting chops. His direction, along with his eye for stylized shots and skillful editing, prove to be the big strengths of the movie. What's especially nice about watching BGB&O is that you see these strengths mature in his subsequent movies, Narc and Smokin' Aces. This movie is very ambitious and inspiring. As Carnahan proved with his later movies, he can write snappy dialogue that fuses with his ambitious style and intriguing premise to create a very entertaining movie. Blood Guts Bullets and Octane was just the warm-up lap to get him on his way to making good crime movies on bigger budgets. Rent this movie if you want to see a young up-and-comer with a lot of promise.

"Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane" is a small, independent film full of guns, drugs, money and mystery that tries with all its might to be clever and hip. It doesn't succeed. Ever since David Mamet burst onto the theater scene, a lot of playwrights, screenwriters and novelists have wasted a lot of time writing sharp, snappy dialogue (myself included). The truth is, sooner or later that dialogue has to stop being sharp and has to actually say something. Unfortunately, by the time the dialogue in "Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane" actually said anything, it was too late. I'd stopped caring.

GREAT MOVIE - One of my all time favs.