Summary:
A young mute woman is tracked by a mysterious preacher.
My Thoughts:
I watched this film on the recommendation of a buddy who said that he thought this film had been unjustly criticized because of the violence depicted in this film, and also because it was too epic (right now it has a 42% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 45% on Metacritic). Over the past year or so, I’ve realized that I generally like westerns; I also like epics; and I have no problem with violence in movies; so I figured I could give this film a shot.
I’m not mad I did; this movie has some very competent scenes, and the way in which the story is dished out is good storytelling, but I also think that director Martin Koolhoven was a bit ambitious in his writing- it’s a bit lengthy and indulgent, and sometimes the way in which he tried to address his themes came off as preachy. And furthermore, the actors don’t provide the level of commitment needed for some of the more emotional scenes to work. This movie is okay, and if you really like westerns, you’ll probably find some things you’ll enjoy, but it’s far from western classics like “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly” or even modern films like “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”.
“She was a warrior. In the old century, you had to be in order to survive.”
Liz (Dakota Fanning, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) is a mute woman living with her new husband Eli (William Houston, “Sherlock Holmes”) and his son from another marriage Matthew (Jack Hollington, “Bitter Harvest”). After a new Reverend (Guy Pearce, “LA Confidential”) comes to their village, Liz becomes convinced something horrible will soon happen and tries to warn Eli, but Eli wont listen. Through a series of flashbacks we learn the relationship between Eli and Liz.
So, there are some really good things about this film. I think a lot of the sets and a lot of the locations are wonderful. This movie is pretty epic in both length and scope, and we’re shown at least four different major areas, all of which have their own big set piece. There’s a pretty cool looking town, a whorehouse, a small mining town, and a logging community. There are also plenty of costumed extras that populate the screen, and many of them look to be wearing (from what I could tell) historically accurate costumes. There’s a lot of great cinematography that at different times highlights the vastness of the plains, the majesty of the mountains, and the desolation of the wilderness.
I really enjoyed the way that this story was structured. When Liz first meets the Reverend, we can tell that she knows him, but we don’t know the backstory. The flashbacks in this film feel sort of like “Memento”, where we flashback just far enough to learn a bit more information, before we flashback again. Without spoiling anything, we learn that Liz has been chased by this preacher for quite some time, and that he has it in for her for reasons that aren’t divulged till the near the end. The way this movie unveils the mystery actually helped to hold my attention for the films (rather lengthy) runtime.
While I liked the way the story was structured, I didn’t like the way that Koolhoven addressed his themes. We at TMM have often talked about how Christian films have a problem with didactic filmmaking; meaning films that exist solely to teach rather than to entertain. While this film is clearly meant more to entertain than it is to teach, it’s impossible to ignore just how heavy-handed the themes of female oppression are portrayed here. It feels as if someone is screaming for you to get the very obvious point that Liz is being oppressed. It’s a bit overwhelming and irritating.
Another problem this film has is that none of the actors really give amazing performances; Guy Pearce is the standout as the preacher, but his character is so ridiculously evil that it almost becomes lunacy. Dakota Johnson is pretty uneven, and that’s unfortunate because most of the emotional scenes revolve around her being able to pull at the viewers’ heartstrings, and instead she looks rather bored for most of the movie.
Verdict:
I think the biggest problem this film faces is that it doesn’t earn its runtime. While the way the story is structured might be cool, the acting isn’t that great, the themes are a bit heavy handed, and the story itself is just okay. This is the definition of a middling film, so it’s really up to you if you want to spend two-and-a-half hours watching it.
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