This film wants to be No Country for Old Men if it was directed by a second rate Robert Rodriguez.A Mexican cartel arms deal goes wrong leaving several dead and some money missing. Ian McShane is a wily but ageing small town lawman in Arizona, Patrick Wilson is his straight laced replacement, the new sheriff in town. They both join forces as a mysterious cartel hit-man (John Leguizamo) arrives with a literal hit-list, the trouble he is also a police officer. John Belushi is a sleazy used car salesman who seems to be doing the Cartel's dirty work.This is a gritty neo noir B film, convoluted and viscerally violent, at one point Wilson loses his hand in a machete attack but it also comes across as confusing, hollow and silly at times.

Like many other indie films, this one features excellent acting by its leads, but is deeply flawed in other respects. Patrick Wilson (Wallace) gives one of his best performances as a sheriff trying to break out of arrested development and Ian McShane (Lee) is hugely entertaining as his brutal predecessor. Lynn Collins (Marla), John Belushi (Shep), and John Leguizamo (Atticus)are also fine in smaller roles. The music is appropriately spare but haunting. The tone is unrelentingly gruesome and nihilistic.Unfortunately the film's dramaturgy is such a mess that it could serve as a classic example of the ill-made play . We are repeatedly told that Wallace is an "asshole" but we don't see him act as such until more than halfway through. Characters move from place to place like chess pieces and have knowledge of key plot points seemingly by magic. There are conspicuous gaps in continuity. Wallace hides in a mobile home from the killer Atticus; we are never shown how he escapes. How does Wallace know there is a gun in Lilly's/Atticus's toilet? In the climactic scene, Lee's attitude toward Wallace's killing of Atticus changes diametrically in seconds. I don't believe Wallace and Marla can simply drive off into the sunset. The bloody stump that is Wallace's arm will become infected, and the murder he committed will come out once he is hospitalized. In sum, while "The Hollow Point" has effective acting and music, it falls short of providing a satisfying experience due to sloppy plotting and characterization.

The sound effects/soundtracks were unbelievable. The filming was so fresh and new, didn't know what to expect. My husband and I loved it. I truly love shows were you cant predict what is going to happen. This one delivered as a true mystery all the way to the end. Wilson is fantastic. Belushi was excellent, good to see him again. The guns and gun sound effects were off the chart. I would have loved to have seen this on the big screen. No spoiler alerts, you have watch this one on your own. Belushi can truly act the serious bad guy. I had to take pain medicine during the show because the movie hurt so bad. The sound and visual is what made this movie.

"The Hollow Point" is a movie that feels lazily and cynically assembled by a committee. It looks good, has some really violent moments, and some dependable stars. Who cares if it doesn't make sense, or you don't care about any of the characters?It becomes clear early on that you don't need to make any investment into the characters not only because the movie doesn't adequately explain who they are or what they want, but also because you know they are going to get maimed and mutilated in some pretty gruesome and graphic ways, that only the special effects people seem to understand the repercussions of.Case in point: early on, our hero, if that's who he is, is attacked by a madman wielding a machete, who hacks off one of his limbs. This is depicted every bit as violently as you might expect. Does he go into shock, pass out from blood loss, and die? Does he manage to get help, go to hospital, recover, learn to live without the limb, quit the police force, because I'm pretty sure a one-armed-man would be ineligible for service, and live out his days on disability?No.He apparently drags himself to the house of his partner - if that's who he is - bleeds on the guy's walls, and waits politely until sun up. When he finally goes to hospital, he asks wryly about the chance of the limb being found and reattached, to which the doctor or nurse makes an almost cruelly flippant response.It's a grim-dark, bleak, nihilistic thriller, see?See?