Hell of a title, right? But don’t let the title fool you. From the trailer, The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot seems to be less Zombeavers and more Unforgiven.
The trailer begins with a voiceover of a man talking about tales told by his grandfather about a legendary soldier. It seems the tales got wilder as he got older.
Next, we see Sam Elliott (Roadhouse) take on a gang of muggers in very Taken fashion. This is frankly the one part of the trailer I am put off by, as the fight choreography and editing seem a bit dodgy. The quick cuts and what appears to be stunt doubles make it look like the editor may have had to cut around the fact that Sam Elliott can no longer quite move like Wade Garrett.
We then see Elliott’s character is being recruited by the man, an FBI agent played by Ron Livingston (Office Space).
Elliott’s character, having a crisis of conscience, discusses his dilemma with his barber, played by the endlessly charming Larry Miller (10 Things I Hate About You). It seems Elliott killed someone in The War and he never wanted to, “even if the man had it coming. And he did.” And thus he enacts the first half of the movie’s title.
Now we get an explanation of the second half of the title. The Bigfoot is spreading some kind of terribly destructive influenza virus and the government is recruiting its top monster killer to once again take out an existential threat to humanity.
The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot, despite its clickbaity title, seems like its going to be a real dramatic exploration of trauma and duty. Elliott’s character is clearly wrestling with what he did in The War. He knows a thing had to be done and still regrets having to be the one to do it. It also seems like its going to play with metaphor in an interesting way; he kills a metaphorical monster and then must battle a literal one.
All in all, The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot is taking some big swings. This is always dicey with a first-time feature director like Robert D. Krykowski. At its best, it could be a wildly entertaining combination of arthouse and camp on the level of Sorry To Bother You. At its worst, it could fail to hit either of its dramatic or action beats and fall totally flat.
