3000 Miles to Graceland

Review by James Anthony

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Having small expectations of movies is often the way to be genuinely surprised and find yourself really hooked by a film.

So it was with 3000 Miles to Graceland, a DVD that turned up in the letterbox with no fanfare, was put into the player with a "let's see how it goes" attitude and completely grabbed the attention within a very short space of time.

3000 Miles to Graceland has a top-notch cast that is superbly led by the veterans Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner. Throw into that mix a twisting story, the edgy Christian Slater, the quirky David Arquette and the eye-opening Courteney Cox and you have something for a director to play with.

And play with it he does. 3000 Miles to Graceland is one of those movies you don't want to finish and yet you are dying to see how it ends.

It's International Elvis Week in Las Vegas and the gambling centre of the world is absolutely flooded with side-burn bedecked Elvis look-alikes wandering around in tight jumpsuits saying "thank you verrrrry much".

This time, however, five of the dudes are out for more than a song and proceed to rob a casino of a gentle $3.2million.

What follows is a classic tale of greed, murder, double crossing, love, humour and one hell of a lot of shooting.

To go any further into the plot would be tempting fate and potentially spoiling the viewing for people so we'll move right along.

Costner puts in his best performance for years as Murphy, the psychopathic organiser of the gang, and he finds himself battling for top billing with Kurt Russell, who plays the just-out-of-jail Michael.

The big surprise packet in the cast is Cox who, it has to be said, shows herself to be quite an actress. Leaving her uptight ice princess from Friends far behind, Cox plays a hot-to-trot solo mum in an unbelievably believable way. Dead set, she makes heads turn.

The video transfer is magnificent, with lovely colour, good clean imagery and a sharpness that is near perfect. Soundwise, 3000 Miles is a tad up and down, but you'll be having so much fun watching the damn thing the occasional lapse in surround will almost go unnoticed.

Look, we've seen the plot before, but there is something about 3000 Miles to Graceland that makes it well worth watching. I cannot understand how it copped such a flogging from film critics when it was released theatrically. Maybe the rod-up-their-backside Seppos don't like having fun poked at their violent culture, Elvis or road movies.

Thank you verrrry much.

Conclusion: Movie 85%, Extras 60%

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