The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot is an awesome title in theory, but then if you think about it, it is actually awkward. Couldn’t the conjunction “and” be deleted and the adverb “then” suffice? I’m prone to leaving out articles, but did we really need “the?” The Man Who Killed Hitler Then Bigfoot seems better to me. It is the same reason that I hesitated before going to the theater to see The Wolverine. Titles are hard, but they can tell you a lot if they don’t work.
Regardless I did consider seeing The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot when it was briefly at my favorite theater with the real butter popcorn. It sounded like it may be a fun movie if done well, and Sam Elliott seemed like a promise of quality, but I’m glad that I hesitated because when I watched it at home, it felt like it took forever to finish. The movie has such pacing and identity issues with little to no payoff that it would only be worth a viewing if you loved the people in the cast, but for viewers looking for B movie greatness should pass.
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot can’t decide whether or not it wants to embrace the tone that its title evokes or if it wants to be a rip off of a late Clint Eastwood movie that wants to remind you of the greatness of Unforgiven, but is a shadow of his Unforgiven days. Basically it is about a man scarred and tired of violence, but called to it one last time. Because the movie never completely abandons its snappy action adventure potential and occasionally reminds viewers of it long after a viewer abandons any expectations to be rewarded with it, it never allows the viewer to settle into a more existential mood that the film’s ambition wants to depict. I waited one hour for style and atmosphere. Also there was something about the quality of the film that gave off the Christian produced movie vibe, a certain je ne sais quoi.
The timing of the release is dreadful for the younger actor who plays the younger version of the titular character, i.e. Sam Elliott. Bradley Cooper basically set in stone that only he can convincingly play a younger Sam Elliott from now until the day that he dies after A Star Is Born, and any actor who tries to touch the hem of his garment will only embarrass himself. The key is the voice. If you can’t do the voice, don’t bother. After watching this film, I looked up the crap actor who failed at the job and was horrified to discover that it wasn’t just some random guy trying to make it big. It was Aidan Turner, a real actor, a British actor, a good actor, best known for being a vampire in the British version of Being Human yet he was wholly unconvincing as a younger Elliott, which is a serious problem because a majority of the movie consists of flashbacks. It isn’t that Turner failed, but Cooper is too great so if you saw and enjoyed the latest version of A Star Is Born, stay away from The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot.
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot should appeal to a viewer like me. There is the threat of the apocalypse, killing Nazis, sci-fi elements with a titular folklore creature, but it all falls flat. You would be better off watching an episode of Supernatural with Bobby then chasing it down with Willem Dafoe’s The Hunter and maybe Inglorious Basterds. The best part of the film is unsurprisingly Elliott, especially when he gets to deliver portentous lines of dialogue at a kitchen table, but it isn’t enough if the story isn’t strong enough.
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot broke one of my cardinal rules for films. No one needs to see a flashback more than once. We were there the first time, and you’re just trying to fill time. The scenes with the Russian spy did not make sense to me with respect to how they fit in the overall story, but please feel free to explain to me what I missed. The romantic storyline felt dilatory, not pivotal. If you give me an apocalypse and say that everything in a certain area will die, and it doesn’t, then I will hate you for setting up a threat and not partially delivering. No one told the owl or the elk. Also if people are using scorched earth tactics, then maybe the scenes should be a little smoky or a lot less lush and green. The end is confusing. Why did you throw that party if no one was home, and you were just going to pop up again and let everyone know that they wasted their time? It is possible that I missed something. I was constantly worried that something was going to happen to the dog, Ralph, played by Silas Archer Gustav, but the dog was fine.
Also The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot cast two great comedic actors in roles that were supposed to be more dramatic: Office Space’s Ron Livingston and Outsourced’s Rizwan Manji. I’m not saying that they didn’t do a good job in dramatic roles injected with some humor, but for a movie that promises sci fi action adventure, but really is a drama, a viewer doesn’t need more contradictory signals to dilute the mission statement. While I loved Larry Miller playing Elliott’s brother and comparing and contrasting the men, there is no world in which a movie can convince me that they are brothers. Random characters would have interactions with Elliott that felt as if those characters would be more essential to the story, but nope. Also the film was supposed to be a period piece that unfolded during 1987, which I couldn’t tell until close to the end of the film. I suppose that the old television was a signal, but as you get older, if something still works, you use it. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the story is taking place in another era.
Bigfoot was not a convincing practical effect. I’m sorry, but it did look like a man in a Bigfoot costume. If the rest of The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot were good or at least felt original and had potential, I would have signed a waiver because at least the filmmakers are doing more than me and getting their work out there, but it felt derivative, and we came for Bigfoot so spend all the money on him. You brought up Bigfoot, not me.
Unless you’re a huge fan of the cast, especially Elliott, don’t see The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot. The special features are longer than the film, which is usually a bad sign, and this movie is the rule, not the exception. It was disappointing, and I don’t even know how it could have been salvaged to keep the best parts and still make a good movie.