Verdict
Summary
Shot in Scotland on beautiful locations and loaded with splashy blood squibs and head-slapping action that almost makes Kung Fury look over the top, Dick Dynamite: 1944 was a crowd-funded, friends and family affair, but I’m sorry to say that it’s just awful and no fun at all. My idea of a good time at the movies is not something where a crowd of Jewish children are cut down by bullets in front of their gasping parents while the trigger-happy Nazis laugh and joke, and the movie just goes from bad to worse with a really unpleasant tone and grotesque close-ups of insane characters with names such as Dr. Dinkelflokken are intended for some kind of comedic effect, but none of this is funny. It’s just a big turn off from the get-go.
Plot:
A team of commandos hunt and kill Nazis who want to turn everyone into zombies.
Review:
Nazis know the war is ending and they’ve got one ace up their sleeve: a crazed doctor has perfected the art of turning people into zombies with a secret gas formula. One dose does the trick! These Nazis are really inhumane monsters: They dose groups of children and release them, cackling as they mow them down with their machine guns just for fun. Who’s going to stop all this madness? Dick Dynamite! DD (played by one-name, one-credit actor Snars) is the toughest of the tough guys, and he assembles a daredevil team with names such as Dash Dalton, Brooklyn, Napalm Jeff, Tam the Bam, Doc, and Motherfu**er, and they go to work. Armed with all manner of ordinance – double-barreled machine guns, grenades strapped to their dongs (just in case), and grips strong enough to rip faces off Nazi skulls, these crazy commandos are just what the world needs before the zombie-making formula reaches New York.
Shot in Scotland on beautiful locations and loaded with splashy blood squibs and head-slapping action that almost makes Kung Fury look over the top, Dick Dynamite: 1944 was a crowd-funded, friends and family affair, but I’m sorry to say that it’s just awful and no fun at all. My idea of a good time at the movies is not something where a crowd of Jewish children are cut down by bullets in front of their gasping parents while the trigger-happy Nazis laugh and joke, and the movie just goes from bad to worse with a really unpleasant tone and grotesque close-ups of insane characters with names such as Dr. Dinkelflokken are intended for some kind of comedic effect, but none of this is funny. It’s just a big turn off from the get-go. Comedy and tongue in cheek is tough when you’ve got amateurs at the helm, and that’s exactly what all this madness is: Amateur. Tonally, it’s a disaster. Fun movies have been made with basically the same ingredients with very low budgets, but you’ve got to make sure your script is solid and that your actors understand what kind of movie they’re making. This could’ve easily been a pretty entertaining pulpy adventure, but it ends up being a nearly torturous viewing experience. Filmmaker Robbie Davidson has light years of cinema language and culture to catch up on before he can attempt to transform these ingredients into something worthwhile.
Epic Pictures recently released Dick Dynamite: 1944 only Blu-ray, and it comes with a commentary, a making-of feature, interviews, behind the scenes features, and deleted scenes.
