Typical of a lot of mediocre Hollywood movies: a couple of big name but done little lately stars, some guns and explosions, and a little bit of hottie. And a catch: the two male leads are unacknowledged illegitimate sons of Elvis Presley. 3000 Miles To Graceland never gets within 2500 miles of Graceland and never gets that close to quality. What it reminded me of was Ocean’s 11 (without the Rat pack hype): a bunch of actors some of whom are probably good friends, a Vegas casino robbery, and the bad things that happens when criminals seem to succeed. Kurt Russell has done Elvis before and Kevin Costner has done the bad guy thing before. Kevin Pollack goes nowhere as the Fed looking for them, Courtney Cox is the luscious sidedish, and Paul Anka plays a throwaway cameo as the Casino owner who sponsors an Elvis impersonator convention even though he hates Elvis.
Director Demian Lichtenstein made his feature debut with this after coming up through music videos and let’s just say his background shows, particularly in a couple of driving sequences early on that attempt to establish a certain mood as the guys make their way into Vegas and the Strip. I mean, puh-leeeze!, by 2000 when this was filmed, was there anyone in the entire world who needs to see another 60 seconds of moving down the Strip to show us all the hotels and neon lights? Lichtenstein and Richard Recco are co-credited for the script, with this being the latter’s first movie credit–his IMDB bio says only “Electrician; member of Local 3, Brooklyn, New York, USA.” The script throws clues and doesn’t follow up but it does give us an adorable kid. Another film that celebrates violent criminals, who needs it? Not Recommended!
Amusingly, Russell’s next film appears to be Training Day with him in the Denzel Washington role. And has Costner done a good movie since 1994?
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