Product Description

ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING, WITH $3.2 MILLION IN STOLEN JACK. PARTICIPANTS IN A LAS VEGAS INTERNATIONAL ELVIS WEEK PULL OFF A DARING CASINO HEIST, THEN MUST CONFRONT THEIR WORST ENEMY: EACH OTHER. SPECIAL FEATURES: ORIGINAL THEATRICAL TRAILER, CAST/FILMMAKER CAREER HIGHLIGHTS AND MUCH MORE.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16885 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2001-08-07
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 125 minutes

Amazon.com
Opening with metallic computer-generated scorpions battling in a scorching desert wasteland, 3000 Miles to Graceland announces itself as one helluva nasty movie. A comedic wallow in antiheroic violence, the movie vomits off the screen, as if director Demian Lichtenstein--obviously a veteran of music videos--had mainlined amphetamines before stepping behind his oh-so-busy camera. In a futile attempt to out-Woo John Woo, Lichtenstein goes to extremes to achieve a kind of absurd in-your-face exhilaration, and for additional thrills, the movie gives second-billing to Kevin Costner in the most vile role of his career. As leather-clad Elvis impersonator and Presley bastard child Thomas Murphy, Costner's like a black-sheep brother to Raising Arizona's biker from hell.

With four accomplices including a fellow Elvis worshipper named Michael (Kurt Russell), Murphy storms a Vegas casino for a $3.2 million robbery that turns into a haywire bloodbath. Partners are eliminated, double-crosses abound, and Michael connects with a trashy sexpot (Courteney Cox Arquette) whose preteen son (David Kaye) is a precocious criminal in training. Murphy's on their trail, FBI agents are on Murphy's, and gradually things get really nasty. We're supposed to laugh at the blackness of it all, and sometimes the ballsy humor scores a bull's-eye. The road-movie action accommodates several twists of plot, and while Russell's enjoying a semireprise of his performance in John Carpenter's Elvis, there's something perversely thrilling about Costner's deadpan ruthlessness. But really, how amoral can one movie be without wearing out its welcome? Frenetically depraved, 3000 Miles to Graceland is like exotic roadkill: morbidly fascinating until you get a whiff of its stench. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Some People Just Don't Get It
I've read reviews whining because some people thought this movie was about Elvis. I guess I just don't see criticizing a movie because of an erroneous assumption, when the movie is GOOD. I mean, damn good. Kurt Russell, in not his first stint as Elvis (or in this case, an impersonator for the sake of a robbery) is wonderfully understated and kind of the calm during the storm in this movie. The storm? That would be Kevin Costner, who plays the baddest bad man of his career, I dare say. With all of the romantic hero roles he's played, this role goes a long way in showing the many talents of this actor. How he could be so bad and yet, likeable, is amazing to me. Courtney Cox has the trashy-sex-kitten-with-a-good-heart thing going on, and her son is too wise for his years in a realistic, yet sad, way. Yes, this movie has some violence. Is it more violent than other movies? Well, yeah, if you're talking about Bounce, it does. The point is, this movie is immensely entertaining, and never boring. And that's what movies are all about, yes?

flawed but occasionally interesting
�3000 Miles to Graceland� isn�t quite as dopey as the cover art featuring Kurt Russell and Kevin Kostner clad in Elvis regalia would suggest. Although it breaks little new ground in its already overworked genre, the film does emerge as an efficient crime drama thanks to a gallery of interesting characters, some impressive performances and Demian Lichtenstein's flashy directorial style.

After a shaky first half hour or so, in which the film seems to be struggling to establish its direction and tone, the movie miraculously hits its stride and, thereafter, never really lets up. The story centers around a band of ex-cons, united by their almost obsessive love for the King of rock�n�roll, who decide to knock over a Las Vegas casino dressed as Elvis impersonators. Predictably, the heist serves merely as the pretext for one of them, the obviously psychotic Murphy (Kostner), to cold-bloodedly eliminate his accomplices. The fly in his ointment turns out to be Michael Zane (Russell), the most principled one of the group, who survives the holocaust and spends his time, along with a pretty single mother and her precocious child, trying to keep out of Murphy�s way.

In terms of plotting, the film follows a pretty traditional route for this kind of film. However, the characters here seem a bit more fleshed out than they often do in some of those other films, particularly Zane, who seems caught between his criminal inclinations and his innate goodness as a human being. Cybil, the single mother played by Courteney Cox, likewise seems conflicted between genuine love and emotion and the excitement of easy wealth and a life lived on the edge. But it is Kostner as Murphy who sets the real tone for the film. His portrayal of a steely-eyed psychotic killer literally sets the teeth on edge, as he callously mows down scores of policemen and innocent bystanders who happen to get in his way. He makes for a truly soul-cringing villain. Russell, who played the actual legend back in his own younger, more halcyon days, makes a fascinating subtle counterpoint to Murphy�s unbridled ruthlessness.

The film is not, however, a total success. For one thing, the violence often seems excessively brutal, graphic and mean spirited for a movie that seems to want to be a lark of sorts (after all, a movie featuring robbers dressed as Elvis impersonators can�t be bidding to be taken too seriously). Moreover, the plotting, which far too often relies on unlikely coincidences to keep it rolling, also borders frequently on the incoherent. Finally, the morally ambiguous ending doesn�t really sit well with those of us who find a couple of thieves, no matter how charming they may appear to be, unlikely candidates for heroism in the context of a �happy� ending.

All in all, however, �3000 Miles to Graceland� will probably appeal to those who like their crime dramas offbeat, quirky and filled with interesting characters.

Costner IS the King (well, only his son)
I know that some people will say that this is a rip off of Ocean's Eleven, or Reservoir Dogs, or whatever pseudoflick they've watched lately, and there are some things alike, but this movie IS certainly cool entertainment at its best. Costner plays a psycho (who says he is Elvis's love son), and Russell a misfit, in the wrong place at the wrong time, who try to pull a heist, but it goes awry. People have said that it is too violent, that the shootings look made up, but, hey, that's the point: it looks crazy because it is supposed to be crazy; Courtney Cox leaves her child with Kurt because she was nuts, they fall in love because this IS a movie, it isn't supposed to be a real life story. Of course, everybody is entitled to have an opinion, but before you express yours: WATCH this film. Even if I'm not the biggest Kevin Costner fan, I mus admit that he is the best part and the best actor here. This movie IS the coolest new release