The average adult usually has
around 206 bones in their body (down from around 270 at birth), and if they are
in any way lucky, one or two might be creative. The director of this flick, Ty
West, probably has several creative bones in his, for he tends to make
interesting films — House of the Devil
(2009 / trailer)
& Cabin Fever II: Spring Fever
(2009), for example — even if not all are always a success (see our review of The Innkeepers [2011]). His genre
of activity has tended to be that of horror, but he obviously decided that he
wanted to explore some new terrain in 2016 and, trying his hand at the classic
western, came up with this movie here, which, like most of his movies, he also
wrote.
Trailer to
In a Valley of
Violence:
If movies had bones, one would be
hard placed to say that West's western, as predictable as it is, really has a
creative bone anywhere in its body, but for that, it at least obviously has the
right ones, for it is damn fine semi-spaghetti oater, far less interested in
being an opera or revisionist than simply telling its tale and entertaining the
viewer. From the pre-credit sequence to the final scene, not to mention the
fabulously retro and true-to-its-source credit sequence, one has seen something
similar somewhere else — but, you know, sometimes the most common ingredients
also make a damn fine meal. (Comfort food, so to speak.) Especially if you know
how to tweak the ingredients, which West does often here: the hero is not
really a hero, the bad guy (John Travolta of Lonely Hearts [2006]) not really
all that bad, the hot-headed son (James Ransone of Sinister I [2012] and Sinister II [2015]) and his whore
(Karen Gillan of Oculus [2013]) are both
caricatures, and the women in distress (Taissa Farmiga) a total ditzy
blabbermouth. And then there's Jumpy (Abby), the wonder dog, not to mention a
deputy, Tubby (Tommy Nohilly), who, instead of simply doing what he's told,
goes on a "this ain't my job and my name ain't Tubby" screed when the
shit hits the fan, and a big final showdown that is in no way heroic…
Yeah, you've seen it all before,
more or less, but West adds a bit of, dunno, jalapeno or soy sauce or something
to the traditional salt and pepper. And to his (and the viewer's) luck, he's
also extremely well-supported by a small, tight cast who all play their tropes
very well. The final result is a movie that does a damn good job at taking the
viewer not for a fun gallop but for a fun trot. And if it isn't really into the
sunset, it is at least to an ending that infers that our hero, the Man with a
Name (Ethan Hawke as Paul) — who has a history, has no noble intentions, and
only finally gets involved for good ol' fashion revenge — might maybe have
gotten the girl and, if not, might have at least achieved some sort of sense of
personal redemption or closure.
It's a shame that the movie was such a flop, for it is not a
movie that deserves such a fate. Give it a go, you'll probably like it.
PS: To plug some of our Short
Films of the Month, if you happen to be Western-minded person, dare we
suggest that you check out the following three shorts?
March 2011: Ring of Fire (2000)
June 2013: The Backwater Gospel (2011)
July 2014: The Gunfighter (2014)
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