LogFAQs > #957063804

Johnbobb: Much like Mortal Kombat, I don't remember the plot but I sure as hell remember the fatalities.

Karo: When some people go missing from a town, it is a surprise to everyone that the culprits are some Orcs that found their way here from Middle Earth.
The Posse of the Ring is formed and they travel to Mordor where cowboys are dismembered messily and the protagonist takes out the entire tribe while having a broken leg thanks to the power of plot armor and bad writing.
The best part of the movie is when their little group is on the trail of the kidnappers and it really didnt need to be much more than that, but unfortunately it soon degrades into exploitative stupidity that panders to the basest of audiences. No effort is made to rationalize the existence of the film's antagonists or explain why an otherwise realistic movie turns into Wild Wild Warcraft for no reason.
So we are left with a pointless film whose whole premise seems to be based upon 'hey we want to be able to massacre some savages in the modern era but we can't use indians any more so lets make mutant indians and call them something else'.
This is one tomahawk that definitely needs to be buried, hopefully good and deep where nobody can ever find it again.

CoolCly: I don't like gore or especially gross kills. It doesn't add anything of enjoyment for me, and makes me squeamish and unhappy. In general, I dont find grittiness or grimdark to really elevate something. If it is used for good effect and purpose, it can add things, but the tone itself is not pleasant to me and it doesnt win me over in anyway.
So this movie had a pretty uphill battle to win me over and I dont think it really got there.

The characters werent that good. This in group conflict between Chicory and Brooder is just like. Sad. Chicory is just boringly old and incompetent and Brooder is an incel who studied the blade I guess. Kurt Russell has been phenomenal in other western roles, but this didnt feel like much of a standout.
Arthur being stubborn about how his leg is affecting him and how to treat it is just like, annoying. Having a character like this can add an interesting dynamic, but this is just tedious and annoying. And what - so we can have seens of him yelling damn when he's struggling with it? It's not like they give a realistic take on someone like him going through this anyways. Brooder provoking Arthur into the scene that breaks his leg further is just like dumb. This is just boringly dumb.

I feel like this movie dehumanizes indians in a way that even the older movies don't. They feel more like Predators than human beings. They have a bone whistle surgically grafted into their throats? Maybe this all makes for effective movie monsters, but ehhhh. The pregnant women that have have been blinded and had their limbs removed are especially weird. Surely this isnt based on a real tribe? It's strange that it goes to such lengths to set them as inhuman monsters, but then also they snuck into the middle of town at night and kidnapped a couple people specifically and the moved on out.

"Aint no concern of the civilized man" as he rubs his nuts with the barrel of his gun was a great open to the movie though.

Overall, I dont like this movie. But I think it has the right vibe that many people that it strikes with would absolutely love it. Good for them.

5/10

KBM: This is a hard one to know how to feel about. On the one hand, there are some truly terrific performances here, especially from Richard Jenkins as Backup Deputy Chicory, who lends some much-needed levity to the otherwise grimdark proceedings, and from Matthew Fox as the aptly-named Brooder. There's also some scenes of extremely graphic violence and gore that occur just seldom enough that when they do happen, they're undeniably effective and disturbing. The problem I have, though, is that, despite some good character moments along the way, this ultimately feels like a retread of that same tired, racist Searchers narrative all over again. Only this time, the narrative makes a point of stressing that these people aren't REAL Native Americans, aren't even real humans, because look, here's one scene of a Native guy SAYING they aren't! It just leaves a slightly bad taste in my mouth when all is said and done, despite the talented cast and some great individual scenes. Still, I'll never forget the experience of watching it, and that counts for something, especially considering the amount of things about it I did really enjoy.

Poke: I dont think Ive ever witnessed a more genuinely horrifying scene than the one featured in this film. The movie does a good job at making you feel utterly helpless like the characters do. Still, I did enjoy it, but I do hope to blot the tail end of it from my mind.

Inviso: This one was difficult to watch, if Im being honest. Ill give it a TON of credit, because its one of the few movies on this list that doesnt feel like its following a very strict interpretation as to what a western is. Its a horror movie, and I think if the gore was more consistent throughout the film, it would remind me something like an Eli Roth movie. Honestly, the gore itself was nasty, but it injected some much-needed life into the film. The general plot of Indians raiding a town, and people going on a mission to rescue the victims, lends itself to very boring pacing. This is exacerbated when you have an over two-hour runtime. But overall, it just didnt quite work for me. Aside from the opening scene setting a gruesome, horror movie tone, the film just drags on for too long, and its just a little too front-loaded and back-loaded without enough quality in the middle to keep me engaged.
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Bear Bro
The Empire of Silence