Scorpion Spring (1995) Reviews

• Not so bad

  vhilden2006-05-14

  This film is directed by Brian Cox who is famous for directing ... well, it seems that the most important film of his career is "Scorpion Spring". Apart from Music Director Lalo Schifrin, there is no one of importance in the cast. It's one of those ultra low-cost films, most of the action happens in a ghost town around the USA-Mexico border. Anyhow, despite its limitations, or maybe because one's expectations are so low, there is some good suspense in the film. I wouldn't pay a movie ticket to watch this in a theater, but watching it from the beginning in the TV is certainly worthwhile. Considering the limitations, I would rate it 7 out of 10.

• Not enough Matthew

  raesun1999-05-21

  Rented the movie to see McConaughey, instead sat through this entire movie, only to view the actor for the last 15 minutes of the movie. The content and acting leaves a little to be desired. Seems like something that you would see at a high school amateur video viewing.

• Very funny movie

  RobertAllen2005-08-17

  I don't understand why the other comments focus on McConaughey. He has never been a very interesting film actor. The best part of this movie is the writing and the wit. Alfred Molina and Patrick McGaw make an unusual comic duo, definitely not stock types. Although one can't say their characters are well developed that doesn't make them any less funny. The version I saw was on HDNET and had subtitles for the Spanish dialog, so that was certainly not a problem. The use of Spanish gives it more authenticity. A very underrated movie, judging by the unusually low score IMDb members have given it. I thought it was fun and interesting and worth a 7 at least. A lot of slick movies with higher scores and making big money at the box office are much less interesting.

• Fun title, so-so movie.

  Hey_Sweden2012-07-07

  "Scorpion Spring" is worth watching for an eclectic bunch of familiar faces, and some good bits, comic and dramatic. As written and directed by Brian Cox (not to be confused with the actor of the same name), it's basically a routine B road movie / criminal on the lam story. Patrick McGaw is Zac, travelling from NYC to LA who runs into trouble in the Southwest, starting with getting his wallet stolen. Fate soon throws him together with super smarmy French actor Denis Brabant (the always fantastic Alfred Molina, who walks away with the movie), and soon after that, lowlife bad guy Astor (Esai Morales), who has a woman, Nadia (Angel Aviles), in tow. It doesn't take too long for Zac to realize that Astor is bad news, but he's too concerned with Nadia's well being to want to take a powder. Meanwhile, there are other story threads involving characters being tracked down by a border patrol officer (Ruben Blades), a sheriff (Kevin Tighe), and a somewhat dubious lawman (Miguel Sandoval). This is the kind of thing where the twisty plot would require the viewer to pay attention, not that it would probably make much sense if people took the time to scrutinize the script. In any event, this is a very slick looking and well photographed film, that does, as mentioned previously, generate some laughs. McGaw and Molina make for an awfully unlikely comedy duo, but the flamboyant Molina and straight man McGaw do have chemistry. A word of warning to the unaware, though, that if they are watching this for Matthew McConaughey, he only appears towards the end (he *does* make the most of his brief screen time, though). Also popping up in enjoyable bits are John Doe of the group X as Tighes' deputy, the always amusing Richard Edson as a gregarious service station owner, Tony Genaro as McConaugheys' thuggish associate, and musician / actor Tito Larriva as a bartender. This moves along, and kills time, well enough, but nothing about is too remarkable. Five out of 10.

• Road Movie Garbage

  ricardovs272006-12-30

  A very cheesy and dull road movie, with the intention to be hip and modern, shown in the editing style and some weird camera angles, resulting only in sleepiness. The cast is wasted, the writing is stupid and pretentious. The only thing worthwhile is the top-notch Lalo Schifrin's soundtrack, really cool and also the opening sequence, very original and interesting. Run if you can, the bad opinions and comments about this flick are totally deserved; it is really pure garbage. Of course that this has its charm, of watching a movie which everybody would not drop the beer glass on if it were on fire, but save it for a stormy day where you have absolutely nothing else to do.