Set in Wyoming just after the Civil War. An ex-gunslinger returns to the homestead after a decade away only to encounter seething anger from his reverend father who deplores his son's violent ways and a mother long dead. He additionally finds himself in the midst of a town bullied by land-grabbers who systematically murder whoever refuse to sell their land to them. This puts his newly pacified ways seriously to the test.
This is an old fashioned western in many ways in terms of its fairly straightforward story. But in some respects I kind of liked it for this, as it made a change for the genre to reach back into the past for inspiration. Truthfully, this is a story full to the brim with very familiar tropes of its genre and you will not be very surprised by any plot developments or characterisations if you have seen a few westerns. But despite this, it's still an engaging piece of work. I would imagine it's been marketed primarily as the film where real life father and son Donald and Kiefer Sutherland play an on screen father and son. The two actors work well together though and, perhaps unsurprisingly, do have some chemistry. Demi Moore appears too and does solid work in what is a fairly basic character but maybe Brian Cox is the overall standout as the chief villain, an amoral businessman; Cox gets to spit out a few poisonous lines of dialogue and he does it well.
This is not a western that is ever going to break the mould, as it doesn't really ever go anywhere westerns haven't been before. In fact, it actively embraces the standard plot-lines and characters of the genre. But it's a well-acted and is economically delivered never-the-less. Its very unpretentiousness entertainment and, most importantly, enjoyable viewing.
This is an old fashioned western in many ways in terms of its fairly straightforward story. But in some respects I kind of liked it for this, as it made a change for the genre to reach back into the past for inspiration. Truthfully, this is a story full to the brim with very familiar tropes of its genre and you will not be very surprised by any plot developments or characterisations if you have seen a few westerns. But despite this, it's still an engaging piece of work. I would imagine it's been marketed primarily as the film where real life father and son Donald and Kiefer Sutherland play an on screen father and son. The two actors work well together though and, perhaps unsurprisingly, do have some chemistry. Demi Moore appears too and does solid work in what is a fairly basic character but maybe Brian Cox is the overall standout as the chief villain, an amoral businessman; Cox gets to spit out a few poisonous lines of dialogue and he does it well.
This is not a western that is ever going to break the mould, as it doesn't really ever go anywhere westerns haven't been before. In fact, it actively embraces the standard plot-lines and characters of the genre. But it's a well-acted and is economically delivered never-the-less. Its very unpretentiousness entertainment and, most importantly, enjoyable viewing.