02/22/2001

By Jane Sumner / The Dallas Morning News

Elvis only shot up TVs. But in 3000 Miles to Graceland, a gang of Presley impersonators shoot up a Las Vegas casino, spraying lead like the Rangers who killed Bonnie and Clyde.

The gang of ex-cons in caped jumpsuits led by Kevin Costner leave a bullet-riddled hotel and higher body count than Saving Private Ryan as they flee the bloody mess. No wonder four people, including actor David Arquette, who plays one of the weapon-toting Elvi 5, reportedly caught shrapnel in the gun-glorifying shoot.

Warner Bros. Five Elvis impersonators (from left: David Arquette, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Christian Slater and Bokeem Woodbine) take their sideburns and their sidearms to Las Vegas for a heist.

Too bad. The artless carnage that bookends this glitzy, sometimes funny, heist flick mars what could have been a clever comedy. It could have been what folks, especially Elvis fans, will go to see based on a misleading trailer.

Director Demian Lichtenstein, a cinematographer for 15 years, comes from the world of music video, and his first Hollywood feature has more camera moves than the Vegas chorines who keep kicking through the ack-ack bloodbath.

Gambling bystanders, even a hapless little person, get it in 3000 Miles, which opens with animated cyber scorpions battling in the desert. Is this an homage to The Wild Bunch? If so, Sam Peckinpah did it lots better without a computer.

Originally, Mr. Lichtenstein envisioned Kurt Russell in the villainous ring-leader role with Mr. Costner as the hero involved with merry grifter Courteney Cox of Friends.

Movie trailer Movie web site

But apparently Robin Hood wanted to play remorseless killer Murphy. He's not half-bad as a sociopath though not nearly as affecting as the escaped con traveling with a little kid in A Perfect World made in Texas.

In his studded good-guy white Elvis jumpsuit (note that he never kills anybody), Mr. Russell must have had a major déjà vu.

As a child actor, Kurt kicked The King in the shins in It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) and in 1979 won a well-deserved Emmy for the title role in the highly-rated TV movie This Is Elvis.

He still looks the part, and his scenes with lively Ms. Cox and 11-year-old David Kaye are some of the most entertaining. But the brightest spot here is the kid, who comes off as natural, street-smart and winning.

The other three Elvi  Christian Slater, David Arquette and Bokeem Woodbine  exit too quickly for comment, and NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long is way too wholesome to be a getaway chopper pilot.

Kevin Pollak and Thomas Haden Church add a few hoots as federal marshals, but Ice-T and Jon Lovitz show up mainly as targets.

The latter plays an antique dealer who launders money on the side. It's a running gag that killer Costner loves animals and the dealer's mounted heads turn him off. In real-life, of course, it's Mr. Russell who's the big hunter.

The script, which veers from mundane to jokey, is by Brooklyn electrician turned screenwriter Richard Recco, whose heroes, no surprise, include Tarantino, Scorsese and Stone.

In some of the oddest outtakes ever to run with end credits, Mr. Russell proves he can still shake it, dead guys show up grinning and Mr. Costner reminds us that he's still a good guy at heart.