I saw it a couple of nights ago - and I don't know yet what I really think about it.
I thought the fake trailer for it for GRINDHOUSE was maybe the funniest of them all. So I walked in feeling I knew what to expect.
The problem is not the ultra-violence and gore so much as a mangled tone. Things get weirder and over the top the longer it goes, yet Rutger Hauer keeps playing it too straight, like he's in the first Charles Bronson Death Wish movie. While Rodriguez & Tarantino have fun with their exploitation homages, piling in all kinds of visual cliches to spot plus clever dialogue, this effort is a lot more brutal, hitting you like a bludgeon without much in the way of satire; they do try to include some, but it doesn't stick. Hallway through I was wondering what Edgar Wright or Paul Verhoevan in his prime would do differently with this - I think they would have found the balance of tone this needed, instead of being a bucket of vile hate for us to wade through.
Maybe someone else might see this and think the film does what it promises, so why complain? I just know I felt exhilaration watching GRINDHOUSE, while this just had me numbed in my seat, waiting for it to end.