I love this movie so much

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I feel like I have to qualify every review I make of a Mel Gibson film, so yes, he is an awful, crazy person, but oh man was this an great movie! Mel is a nameless getaway driver on the run with two million in cash, who is arrested by Mexican police within the first two minutes of the film and thrown into jail where he schemes to escape and recover his money. The story and main character have a hard-boiled, lean efficiency that's enthralling, and both also have a nasty violent edge that may not be to the tastes of all viewers (blood and guts Mel co-wrote and produced the film), but much of this is played for for comedy. I really don't want to ruin any of the story beyond the set-up, but Mel uses his wits, charms, guns, and fists to survive a prison like you've never seen. "Edge of Darkness" was somewhat of a return to action for Mel, but this film is undeniably a return to the giddy violent action of "Lethal Weapon" or "Payback", which this film could easily have been a sequel (Mel's character at one point references a partner double crossing him with his wife). Strangely, Mel chose not to release the film theatrically in the US and decided to show it Video-On-Demand instead, but I can kind of see his reasoning, as there are some pretty rough non-Hollywood elements in the film that you would certainly never see in most mainstream action films. Overall, if you're in the mood for "Payback" by way of "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia", then this is the film for you!

I do not understand why this movie was released direct to video when it came across as such a path breaking film? The plot was great, photography superb, acting was splendid. What was absolutely great about the film?- Its background score. Massive, Lovable. I could watch the movie a number of times. Its so good. I wish it had a great release. It would have done superb. Seeing this so great, I often wonder if Mel Gibson had just directed it, and it had either Sylvester Stallone, Al Pacino or Robert De niro playing the part. It would have been legendary. Nevertheless this movie is worth the time and just perfect enough to watch.

HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION is a more entertaining film than it has a right to be. It sees Mel Gibson playing another half-crazed criminal type who winds up in a sprawling Mexican prison that looks more like a shanty town than the usual hellhole. This is a prison where kids and women live in peace alongside the convicts and where all manner of backstabbing (literal and metaphorical) goes on on a regular basis.The plot is lightweight and packed with humour, most of it deriving from Gibson's undeniable grizzled charm. Basically it's a film where he starts with nothing and has to rise to the top by outwitting all the various factions and villains pitted against him. The film's heart is the relationship between Gibson's character and a streetwise kid, played by the very good Kevin Hernandez. This central relationship helps to ground and humanise what would otherwise have been a very superficial and rather unappealing movie.Still, this is well made and fast-paced, although it's not quite the action movie they'd have you believe. Gibson is excellent, as is always the case, and the inventive narrative barely gives you time to draw breath before skipping to another situation. It's goofy but has undeniable charm at the same time.

I have always liked Mel Gibson and I really do not care how drunk or politically incorrect he might be. I still like to see him in movies and this is a surprisingly good movie. The movie had a proper theatrical premier in most countries except USA where it went straight to VOD which I find a bit surprising. It is a lot better movie than much of the stuff that are shown in theaters. I suspect the politically correct hypocrites had something to do with that.Personally, I found this movie surprisingly good. Mel Gibson fit the role very well and made a quite good performance. The settings with the bizarre prison which looked like a cross between Alcatraz and Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen was quite cool. It was the kind of setting that I would not have been surprised to find in a Tarantino-movie. I also liked the cynical and somewhat ironical voice-over by Gibson.The story was okay. Perhaps not the most believable one but good enough for this kind of action movie. Speaking of action, there were indeed some decent action in the movie but it is not like the movie is overloaded with it. It is nicely spread out and once the action starts it is pretty good. It is also true that some scenes are a wee bit gruesome but I am not sure that I agree with the R-rating. Most of the time that rating felt a bit over the top. Still, I rather have a R-rated movie with cuts than a PG-13 with lots of silly cuts in it.There were some silly bits of course, like how easy Mel could evade the prison and make a "business-trip" to the states when he finally felt like it and the entire business of performing transplantation surgery in a filthy prison. Mel might have found that "put it back" statement funny when he wrote it but it came out rather silly to me.Bottom line is that this was a quite enjoyable movie. A perfect after-work movie when you feel like parking your brain somewhere in the garage with your car and just sit down and watch something requiring a minimum of concentration.