Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"The Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special" is a 13.5-minute live action short film from 2002, so it has its 15th anniversary this year. The director is Scott Leberecht,a successful visual effects artist as well, and I see this is based on comic books apparently. I must say I am not familiar with the character of Lobo at all. Neither am I familiar with any of the three main actors in here. The story is really absurd: The Easter Bunny is sick of playing second fiddle to Santa every year, so he decides to hire Lobo to kill Papa Cringle. Lobo accepts the offer and at the same time Santa Claus takes the bunny hostage. So when Lobo arrives at Santa's place, after lots of bloodshed, he finds the Bunny as well. Santa offers Lobo thrice the amount Bunny paid him for letting him live and also offers him a nice rabbit stew. Will Lobo accepts? Something personal comes into play then and we find out Santa has his own history with the NRA. This is a very strange little film, not unentertaining, but lacks real love to detail to make it a rewarding watch. For example how does Bunny get out of the cage all of a sudden. And the ending is also a bit expected honestly. It's close, but I give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
The_Nangatang
Considering the minuscule budget for this film and that it was only an 11 minute long tester film, it was fraggin' awesome. The Main Man looked great in live action and despite the shortness of the film i was completely satisfied by the end of it, only Lobo could pull of such acts as shooting Santa and the Easterbunny and that is why it was so great. They didn't skip out on any of the Main Man's best qualities (his humour, violent nature and general lack of care for everybody other than himself) so any non-Lobo fans can watch this and see him in all his glory.Overall this was a great film, watch it now, or i'll have Lobo frag you!
kristofer harald
I have always loved Lobo since I first lay my eyes upon him. This mean killer, with the greatest look. It's a good try, to make a Lobo flick. The problem is that Lobo can't be made 'real'; at least it is very hard to make him look good (as you all know that he dose). But Ken Niederbaumer, that is the key special effects make-up artist, and Scott Leberecht, that have directed this Lobo flick, have made a great work.Of course the acting is a bit poor, but I had expected something much worse.If you get the chance to see it, I recommend you to do so. Lobo is Lobo, and I hope to see more of him in motion.10/10 (mainly because I expected something much worse)/Elforg
weskerhouse
I am a big fan of Lobo. That said, I can say that the movie is in the same spirit as the Lobo issue it is based on. The film does simplify the story and remove some of the ultra violence, I assume for budgetary reasons. As a fan it is obvious that I am biased, however I do have a couple small complaints that only a die-hard fan would notice and in no way take away from the story. For instance in the comics Lobo has some pointed teeth but not fangs, also in the comics Lobo carries huge weapons but now he uses a pistol and some of the dialog just doesn't sound like what the main man would say. The only problems that a casual viewer might have is that it is sometimes hard to understand what certain characters are saying, as is common with a low budget project. Also the main problem is that the film is so hard to find to begin with. If you can find it and have some idea of the character or just don't like the holidays this is a great little film to add to your collection.
AD
