Pawn Shop Chronicles (2013) – A missing wedding ring leads to a wild-goose chase involving meth addicts, skinheads and an Elvis impersonator.
Director: Wayne Kramer
Cast:
Paul Walker … Raw Dog
Matt Dillon … Richard
Brendan Fraser … Ricky
Kevin Rankin … Randy
Vincent D’Onofrio … Alton
Norman Reedus … Stanley
Chi McBride … Johnson
Elijah Wood … Johnny Shaw
Ashlee Simpson … Theresa
Michael Cudlitz … Ben
Thomas Jane … The Man
Rachelle Lefevre … Sandy
Pawn Shop Chronicles tells us three stories that are all linked by a local pawn shop. The interwoven stories all begin in this shop run by Vincent D’Onofrio and Chi McBride, and then follow strange and violent paths to their conclusions.
The first story features Paul Walker and Kevin Rankin, two tweakers trying to rob their local meth cook played by Norman Reedus. This segment is good fun, nothing too serious and its nice to see Paul Walker doing something outside of his usual Fast & Furious world.
The next story follows Matt Dillon as a man who has just got married to the beautiful Rachelle Lefevre. They are driving to Orlando only to be led to the pawn shop by fate. Here he discovers evidence that his previous wife, who he assumed to be dead, might be alive and nearby. He leaves his new bride to go track down his ex, which leads to the most gruesome and violent section of the entire film. Elijah Wood shows once again after Sin City & Maniac that he is perfectly suited to playing a nasty character, and this story is easily the strongest offering for me. Very reminiscent to director Wayne Kramer’s 2006 movie Running Scared, which I happened to love.
The final story is the most surreal of the three, and easily the weakest, and it features Brendan Fraser as a bottom of the barrel Elvis impersonator. This one clings less to a story and hints to something a little more spiritual. This section seemed to drag on forever, without ever really going anywhere, and despite the nice (but insanely far-fetched) wrap around finale, really made the movie end on a bad note for me.
I’d love to see Kramer make another movie like Running Scared, mixed in with a little from the Elijah Wood story here, as Kramer clearly has an interest in the dark side of cinema. Blood, graphic torture and lots of nudity sum up the middle and best segment, and the two stories either side of that are tame and more comedic in theme.
As you can see from the cast list above, there are plenty of stars and recognisable faces on show here. Matt Dillon is by far the best on show, and some of the others are literally in blink and you’ll miss them cameos (or under masks, like Reedus). The cast was what initially made me search the film out, and whilst its a tricky one to recommend, there was enough in the middle segment to at least keep me entertained. I’ve seen this movie described as a poor Pulp Fiction knock-off, and whilst it’s maybe a fair assessment as they have similar themes, I would say Pawn Shop Chronicles is unique enough to warrant a viewing. Definitely not for everyone, but if you have a spare 90 minutes, and want to see something different and messed up, you could do a lot worse.
Fred Durst was originally set to direct.
le0pard13
/ September 1, 2013I’ve placed this into my Netflix queue, Tyson. Thanks.
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Tyson Carter
/ September 1, 2013Hope it doesn’t disappoint! Prepare for a crazy ride Michael 🙂
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Alastair
/ September 1, 2013I think I will give it a miss until I have nothing else to watch 😉
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Tyson Carter
/ September 1, 2013Sadly not one I can try and convince you otherwise over, nothing really here to shout about, aside from a pretty strong middle chapter. 🙂
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William Miller
/ September 1, 2013If it features Matt Dillon and Vincent D’Onofrio, it has to be at least worth a look. Two of my favorites.
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Tyson Carter
/ September 1, 2013Dillon plays a fantastic man out for revenge here. Vincent is much more reserved and has less to do, but helps tie all the story’s together. Hope you like it if you ever catch it 🙂
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Marc Winger
/ September 1, 2013I wouldn’t normally see this film, but will now because it seems slightly acceptable. It’s been awhile since Dillon had a chance to shine.
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Tyson Carter
/ September 1, 2013Dillon is a mixed bag for me, but he was the best part of this. Dishes out a fair bit of justice 😉
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Teepee12
/ September 1, 2013You’d think — with such an expensive cast — that he could do better.
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Tyson Carter
/ September 1, 2013I get the feeling it was a lot of favours for friends, tiny cameos etc all to get the names on the marketing. Some definitely had better parts to play with than others.
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Nick Powell
/ September 1, 2013What a ridiculous cast for a ridiculous film.
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Tyson Carter
/ September 1, 2013You will have seen worse films 🙂
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Three Rows Back
/ September 1, 2013What a cast! Great write-up buddy.
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Tyson Carter
/ September 1, 2013I know, excellent assortment right!?
Thanks buddy 🙂
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theipc
/ September 2, 2013Sounds interesting – looks like something I should evaluate : )
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Tyson Carter
/ September 2, 2013I picture you living in the kind of town this is set in 😉
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Mark Walker
/ September 3, 2013I’ve never actually heard of this one, man, but it sounds quite interesting. I’ll add this to my list.
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Tyson Carter
/ September 3, 2013Yeah it just came out of nowhere for me too really, it was just there ready to stream. The cast grabbed my attention and it wasn’t horrendous 🙂
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Monkeyboy
/ September 4, 2013This is on Netflix then? I’ll have to give it a shot. Plus, I would’ve been more impressed had they actually got the actors together for real to pose for that conga line on the poster, rather than just photoshopping it. 🙂
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Tyson Carter
/ September 4, 2013I believe so yeah, available to stream everywhere (ish) they reckon. It’s still a better poster than I could do with photoshop! BUT they all appear, kind of, so at least they are in the movie 🙂
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Smash
/ September 6, 2013I already wanted to see this and now you’ve made it even more! Brendan Fraser as Elvis, oh be still my beating heart. LOL!!
But seriously… that’s hot.
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Tyson Carter
/ September 6, 2013LOL – a Fraser fan? Has to be one I guess 😉
He is the weakest part for me. Actually, no hes not bad, its the story he is in that is weak. Even I quite liked him here 🙂
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Smash
/ September 6, 2013I wouldn’t say I’m a Fraser fan, he’s kind of a mediocre actor and seems to make poor choices. For some reason I just think he’s a hunk.
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Tyson Carter
/ September 6, 2013Wow, I thought I liked weird looking people 🙂
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