The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot

It has taken me a long time to decide how I feel about this flawed but fascinating movie. On the one hand, kudos to everyone involved for committing to a quirky heartfelt, genre-defying labour of love. On the other, there are swathes of one-star reviews on Amazon from people who feel short-changed and I've some sympathy with them. But not much. Perhaps the title wrong-footed them, but some of them seem to have missed the point entirely. Where to start? Spoilers are almost not a problem, because it does exactly what it says on the tin. The man, Calvin Barr (Sam Elliott) kills Hitler and then the Bigfoot. What is more interesting is what falls into the gaps in between. This is a slow-burning movie about regret and loss, as Elliott's character reflects on the killing of a monster and the realisation that while he can kill the man he can never destroy his poisonous ideology. The sacrifice he made to do so, in losing his young love, is something he must now feel was hardly worth it, with the far right on the march in the States and the erosion of common decency, which Sam Elliott so perfectly embodies. The scenes with the younger version of his character, played by Poldark's Aidan Turner (who more than passes for a young Sam Elliott) are among the most striking and poignant in the film. You almost wish director Robert Krzykowski had left it there. The later Bigfoot scenes seem clumsy and pointless, unless you buy into the symbolism. There's plenty of it and it always leaves you wondering. Better take it as the story of an old man wrestling with his demons, rather than a literal scrap with an actual monster. Special effects on this are almost comically bad, but deliberately so, as if the story's interests lie elsewhere and doesn't want us too caught up in the drama. The performances are universally great. Ironic that Elliott was Oscar-nominated for A Star is Born the same year, while this little gem of a performance slipped under the radar. Caitlin FitzGerald does her best with an under-written female lead, while Aidan Turner (scarily sexy in an S.S. uniform) shines as the diffident young man who killed Hitler. Ambition is no bad quality in a director and this is Robert Krzykowski's debut feature. You can't help but feel his reach may have exceeded his grasp on this. By all means watch and be bemused, or moved. But in either case, learn to pronounce Krzykowski, because this is a name to watch.

Plot twist: the Bigfoot whooped his ass, stole his clothes, shaved everything but the mustache and hair, went back and fooled everyone.

The movie has everything it needs to be a really good movie: acting, cinematography, directing, editing, score but somehow manages to mix it up completely wrongfully and the final product is a messy incoherent piece of "art". Throught the movie it felt like the music was trying too hard to evoke emotions out of nothing.. I was wandering what was the director trying to say throughout this movie. It's a shame things got so messed up as a final product.

It was filmed well, music was nice, it didn't look cheap, and Sam did a fine job but.....nothing else works. The movie doesn't make any sense. In the end you just wonder what they were going for. Were big parts cut? Was it meant to be more supernatural or something? Why are their scenes that mean literally nothing? You will NOT walk away from this one satisfied.

Did a 6th grader write this? The mustache was the only part of the movie worth watching.

This film is trying to be a dramatic heart felt story and fails miserably. The plot is ridiculous, slow and uninteresting unless youre into that whole American hero rubbish. The only saving grace is the Sam Raimi'esk bigfoot scenes which were hilariously gross at times. I would not waste my time.

Did it get shot off in Road House or something. Excruciatingly slow, painfully stupid, boring beyond words except for the exceptional production quality.... too bad about the script, sentimental propagandist nonsense. Bigfoot gets a tip of the hat from the Walking Dead. One of the worst movies I've seen in the last ten years.

Well if you either buy into this one or don't, i guess i don't, what exactly happens in this to make people give it such high ratings?, i must be missing something. The Hitler part, the Bigfoot part, pretty lame really, no adventure and certainly no drama, strolls along, for me this is a big fat NO

I was waiting for an explanation at the end of the film that never came. He dies and they have a burial and then turns up to a school play and his family don't bat an eye lid. And what was in the box?? I will never know. What a waste of 100 minutes.

Carrying a deadly secret, an aging WWII soldier who's never revealed the deadly truth about his past involvement in World War II is called back into service by the government to stop a rampaging Bigfoot-like creature carrying a deadly virus through the wilderness and sets out to stop it. Frankly, this emerged as a wholly impressive and enjoyable outing. One of the many engaging elements present here is the manner in which this partakes in the commentary on old age. Throughout the film, the numerous instances of his coming to terms with his advancing age and the effect that has on him tells a wonderful story about the way his life has turned him into. From the series of flashbacks to his past in the war, not only the series of scenes detailing how he managed to carry out the mission but the pre-mission preparations that are just as important that are showcased here, to the way we see him longing at the memories of the past with the mementos and objects he carries with him which manage to bring this point home quite nicely. All the remembrances he gets of the past through the common everyday acts or items he encounters simply completes the picture of how he remains burdened with his life and can't do much with it. Once it gets into the main meat of the story, this backstory about the man who's skillset proved useful in the past and is now catching up to him causes plenty of fun to be had in the final half where it turns into a rather enjoyable series of confrontations against the creature out in the wilderness. Putting on more of a hunting/tracking display on encounters, ranging from him sniping at the creature out in the distance to the decoys and other back-and-forth encounters that are given a glorious backdrop of the expansive woods of Canada to play in. Taking the adventure route here instead of the horror route allows this one to work more on the genesis of him physically hunting the creature through the area as well as getting in a fine physical brawl between the two that works mainly on that level. These here are what really help this one to overcome its minor flaws. All told, there's not much truly wrong with this one beyond what might be audience expectations. Those going into this one expecting a rousing, wild action-packed film with a series of ridiculous action scenes showing an alternate version of history that would let the commonly-known version of history play out as it normally would are going to be sorely mistaken here in that it's nothing of the sort. It's so late into the movie that they even first mention the creature, a later time than that before he even agrees to the mission and it's so short that there's more time after the encounter than the overall confrontation itself. It doesn't spend enough time at all on the concept of the creature running loose at all to really make much of an impression in that regard, which is just as well considering the ugly and somewhat goofy looking costume given to the creature. However, those expecting a genuine creature feature will be let down here which is the main issue to be had here. Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.