PACIFIC RIM UPRISING Trailer

January 26, 2018 Published by Shari K. Green

PACIFIC RIM UPRISING – In Theaters March 23

The globe-spanning conflict between otherworldly monsters of mass destruction and the human-piloted super-machines built to vanquish them was only a prelude to the all-out assault on humanity in Pacific Rim Uprising.

John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) stars as the rebellious Jake Pentecost, a once-promising Jaeger pilot whose legendary father gave his life to secure humanity’s victory against the monstrous “Kaiju.” Jake has since abandoned his training only to become caught up in a criminal underworld. But when an even more unstoppable threat is unleashed to tear through our cities and bring the world to its knees, he is given one last chance to live up to his father’s legacy by his estranged sister, Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi)—who is leading a brave new generation of pilots that have grown up in the shadow of war. As they seek justice for the fallen, their only hope is to unite together in a global uprising against the forces of extinction.

Jake is joined by gifted rival pilot Lambert (The Fate of the Furious’ Scott Eastwood) and 15-year-old Jaeger hacker Amara (newcomer Cailee Spaeny), as the heroes of the PPDC become the only family he has left. Rising up to become the most powerful defense force to ever walk the earth, they will set course for a spectacular all-new adventure on a towering scale.

Pacific Rim Uprising is directed by Steven S. DeKnight (Netflix’s Daredevil, STARZ’s Spartacus) and also stars Jing Tian, Burn Gorman, Adria Arjona and Charlie Day.

Genre: 3D Epic Adventure

Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Jing Tian, Cailee Spaeny, Rinko Kikuchi, Burn Gorman, Adria Arjona and Charlie Day

Directed by: Steven S. DeKnight

Screenplay by: Emily Carmichael & Kira Snyder and Steven S. DeKnight and T.S. Nowlin

Story by: Steven S. DeKnight and T.S. Nowlin

Based on the Characters Created by: Travis Beacham

Produced by: Thomas Tull, Mary Parent, Jon Jashni, Cale Boyter, Guillermo del Toro, John Boyega, Femi Oguns

Executive Producer: Eric McLeod

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In Theaters March 23rd, 2018

http://www.fandango.com

Maze Runner: The Death Cure Movie Review

January 26, 2018 (updated January 25, 2018) Published by JMcNaughton

“The Maze Runner” series is a young adult dystopian fiction (is there any other kind?) that deals with teens in a critical situation when the world goes haywire. “Maze Runner: The Death Cure” is the final chapter of the three books converted into movies. The books/movies have been pretty popular, but the quality is sometime lacking. This latest serving assumes that you have a precise knowledge of the prior two movies, “The Maze Runner” and “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials“. If you are not familiar with them, you could be in for a shock.

The movie barrels right into the action as if the “Fast and Furious” was the guiding light from Heaven. With nothing in the way of introduction, it gets straight into a train robbery right off the bat. But they are not stealing cars, they are releasing prisoners. There are the goody guys against a wicked organization called WCKD. Great use of subtlety here, right? Anyway, the train is carrying captive kids from the prior movies, and they are being taken for more experiments. Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) is the leader with Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Brenda (Rosa Salazar) and Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito) helping him to get all the kids freed. Vince (Barry Pepper) is also an ally who can get the materials the need to attack the train.

Thomas and Newt are from the “Glade”, and they escaped with Minho (Ki Hong Lee) who has been captured. He was taken when another person from the Glade, named Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), turned traitor and gave Minho up to WCKD. Now Teresa works for the evil agency with Dr. Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson), who is studying the kids to see why they have an immune gene to prevent a disease called the “Flare”. WCKD is also run by a slimy guy named Janson (Aidan Gillen), who will stop at nothing to get the “Glade” kids and keep them captive for more study.

Minho was not found on the train, so he is still captured and taken into the WCKD-run Last City, a final place for civilization that is free from the Flare virus. Thomas and Newt and friends find an old-time Glader named Galley (Will Poulter) who was missing for a long time. Galley can get into the city, so there they can search for Minho and free him. Thomas will work with a new partner named Lawrence (Walton Goggins) who is suffering from the Flare and is ebbing away. Thomas can bring back a serum from in the city where Dr. Paige and Teresa are doing the terrible experiments. When they find and release Minho, then will also bring back all the serum, which is known as the “Death Cure”.

When they enter the City and attack WCKD headquarters, it all goes sideways. There are outrageous plans to get imprisoned kids and free them and take them away on a bus. They find Minho and get him free, but by that time the City is under attack from Lawrence and his minions of Flare-infected followers. Teresa tries to get Thomas to stay and help because he is the key to the cure. Dr. Paige is ready to leave and escape, but the evil Janson will prevent anyone from leaving. Newt and Thomas are about to escape, but Newt is has been ill for some time. Who will live? Who will die? And who can make it out alive?

There is so much stuffed into this movie that it only moves forward with the full-on action sequences. There is very little exposition that connects to any of the prior movies, so the audience needs to know a lot of details from all that happened before. Characters are introduced, or reintroduced, without much fanfare about where you might have seen them before. The explanation of what the main story is about is left to seeing the action and knowing which group is the good people and which are the bad guys.

Granted, there are many well constructed action pieces that have you following along with excitement. But the characters are mostly cardboard cutouts of real people, and not given much depth or deeper meaning. With the action as the greatest asset in the movie, all the actors and acting talent become nothing more than pawns on a chessboard. They move back and forth, and there is a lot happening, but nothing really is revealed.

The practical visual effects and the CGI effects blend in pretty well. It is a well designed movie and the places look futuristic and potentially frightening. But there is no better purpose but to finish up the story that was started a couple movies back. Most things get wrapped up, presuming that you kept track of who was from what prior movie and who did what back then. There is a lot of action and it keeps going on for almost two and a half hours.

Director Wes Ball has actually been in charge of all three of the “Maze Runner” movies. He could have used a better editor, who could have taken this movie and focused the main action into a narrower path. By the time this movie ends, you are glad you made it out of the “Maze”…

Mom and Dad Movie Review

January 22, 2018 (updated January 22, 2018) Published by JMcNaughton

Say you could take a movie like “The Happening“, where a mysterious plague overcomes people and makes them want to commit suicide, but it changes the results a little. Now, it only affects the parents, who exhibit a change in the attitude from protecting their children, to instead wanting to kill them. Now add the forever crazy antics of Nicolas Cage and you have “Mom and Dad”, bizarre creation that gives you another reason to demand that Cage hand back that Oscar he won back in 1995.

Brent Ryan (Nicolas Cage) and his wife Kendal (Selma Blair) have the ideal life in the suburbs with their two kids. Carly (Anne Winters) is a teen-ager in high school, and Josh (Zackary Arthur) is her younger brother. The whole family gets along pretty well, but Ryan is dealing with a mid-life crisis and Kendall wants to be back in a creative job like she used to have. Carly and her friend Riley (Olivia Crocicchia) would like more freedom to have fun. Carly has a boyfriend Damon (Robert T Cunningham), but Brent does not like him because he is older, and he is black.

But there is a sudden turn in events. The parents are overcome by an insatiable urge to murder their children. Regardless of age or disposition, they are driven like wild animals to slaughter the fruit from their loins. It happens slowly over the course of one day, and then the first reports come in of dead children. The news is ablaze with reports of theories of all sorts. It could be unusual microbe activity in the water, or a sinister plot of an evil foreign nation. But these parents are compelled to kill the lovely little shining stars in their lives. They are guided by an unseen desire to destroy their spawn.

Carly and Joshua are caught up in the murder spree that is about to imposed by their parents, Brent and Kendall. The can hide and they can run, but they have nowhere else to go. Damon has been able to escape his own death-by-paternal-unit, so he comes by to help. Carly is clever in ways that can fight back, so she can survive with her brother. Oh, and of course, this all happens on the night that Brent’s own parents are coming over for dinner. His dad Mel (Lance Henriksen) is of course under the same spell and feels the need to do the dirty deed – kill his own son in a gruesome manner.

Yes, this is a frankly bizarre and twisted movie. But it is a crazy set-up that seems tailor-made for the frantic and manic performances for which Nicolas Cage is most famous. And he does not disappoint here at all. In a sequence (a flashback that is set weeks before the weird killing virus), Cage plays Brent at home in the basement constructing a large pool table. And then in a fit of rage and fury, he destroys the same pool table with a sledgehammer, all while singing the “Hokey Pokey”. Ridiculous? Yes, it is – but at the same time it is fascinating to watch.

Brian Taylor is also the writer and director (with partner Mark Neveldine) of movies like “Crank”, Crank: High Voltage” and “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance”. That is, writing and directing movies that are so tilted and perversely skewed is second nature to him. So this movie fits quite well into his wheelhouse.

Is this movie great or meaningful? Is it even good? The movie is competently made, but the soundtrack does not fit at all. The acting is somewhat uneven. Cage and Blair are really good, but there is no depth to being depraved. Anne Winters is the best, because she has a real emotion of fear and wanting to protect her much younger brother.

I just want to see this family at the next Thanksgiving dinner…

In Phoenix area, playing only at the Harkins Valley Art in Tempe.

Small Town Crime Movie Review

January 19, 2018 Published by Shari K. Green

The opening scene of Eshom and Ian Nelms’ film, Small Town Crime, tells you all you need to know about Mike, (Hawkes) the protagonist of the film, and a damned engrossing protagonist might I add… however crude, crass and carnal he may appear. He’s an ex-cop who doesn’t take shit from anyone; just ask him. He tells everyone this about himself, especially people who want to hire him so… that they don’t hire him! A
drunk, when we meet him he’s vomiting during his daily workout. Preferring to spend most of his time inebriated he’d rather drive his muscle car to cash his unemployment check than have to actually work for his money. Always with a beer in his hand, he has gotten sidetracked in life when his partner on the force is murdered during a traffic stop. Mike, drunk at the time, is blamed for his death and is let go.

While out driving, drunk of course, he stops when he sees a very bloody young woman lying near the side of the road. She is beaten half to death but alive. He gets her into his car and races her off to the hospital, unfortunately, she doesn’t survive. With not much in life to keep him roused these days, he decides he’s going to kick his investigation tactics back into high gear. He will avenge her death no matter what it takes.
What he finds is that his local watering hole, one he frequents and where he knows everyone by name (from being kicked out all too often), is more than it appears. Underage prostitutes swarm the joint and it seems they have gotten themselves into trouble with people who aren’t looking for the girls for sex but rather are out to get them for what they know.

Mike tracks down the girl’s family and speaks to her grandfather (Forster). He’s a tough, well-to-do, older man who has nothing to lose, especially now that he lost his granddaughter. He’ll do everything to even the score and hires Mike to help track down her killers. He’ll even haul around his own weapon if needed! Clifton Collins Jr., who originally comes off as a miscreant about to give Mike a lot of trouble, ends up helping to try and solve the mystery they’ve all stumbled into. Hunches, expertise and cunning get them where they need to be for the answers to all of their questions but a growing body count will have you wondering if the need to solve one murder, sans the local detectives, played by Daniel Sunjata and an aged Michael Vartan, outweighs the need to keep the many alive.

Sure, a crime has been committed and needs to be solved but how many must die to solve the said crime before you get help? The answer to that question is answered in this gritty thriller that I recommend you see. I like, and believe you will, too, that things don’t go exactly right for anyone, that Mike is a walking catastrophe and that the viciousness of the picture is brutal. It gives you that much more reason to stay until the end to see if Mike gets his man or if he gets his adopted family of Octavia Spencer, Anthony Anderson and their children, all killed! Did I mention this cast is absolutely stupendous?? By the way, stay for one extra clip after the credits start to roll. Enjoy!

*Opens at the FilmBar and On Demand January 19th

Social Media:

https://www.facebook.com/SmallTownCrime/

https://www.instagram.com/smalltowncrime/

https://twitter.com/smalltowncrime

Forever My Girl Movie Review

January 19, 2018 Published by Shari K. Green

High School sweethearts, Liam (Roe) and Josie (Rothe) are about to get married. We open on Josie and her maid of honor, Kiera (Alexandria), getting her ready for her march down the aisle when through the door comes some devastatingly bad news… her groom isn’t coming. We cut to eight years later and find out why he left sweet and innocent Josie before her brother could walk her to meet Liam at the altar. Fame and fortune came knocking on his door in a big way (think Blade Shelton) and Mr. Liam Page answered it with a fast lurch of enthusiasm and a bit of self-indulgence, not thinking much about who was getting left behind and hurt in the process. He no longer had time for a wife; only for himself. When we see Liam again, he’s on stage singing “Don’t Water Down My Whiskey,” which is not only quite good but Alex Roe does sing it himself for the film. Liam performs for a sell-out stadium crowd and has a team of people taking care of him. Fans scream for him to return to the stage after his last song, but he makes his way to his manager and insists he gets him a particular girl in the front row that he had been eyeballing all night.
I’m thinking this is to get us a bit hot under the collar at his behavior. It doesn’t exactly work because we can tell right away that he’s isn’t like a sailor; isn’t ‘a girl in every port’ kind of guy. The girl he sees reminds him of Josie, for whom he has been unable to forget, though he had definitely left her behind to ache… alone. It’s obvious in some of the following scenes that he has never really tried to rid his memory of her and that outside of casual sex, thinking of her is his only real connection to anyone.

Liam learns that his best friend from High School is killed in a car accident and he takes off for home, leaving behind an already scheduled tour and stunned manager and publicist losing his mind.
Here, the narrative gets a little confusing because he has become incredibly successful, which takes a lot of discipline and when he goes back home, it’s implied or downright said buy his father, Pastor Brian (Hickey) that he had gotten into drugs and was a bit of a mess. That perplexity notwithstanding, it’s a good build up, even though you do see what’s coming. Though the story wants you to be really irritated with his character, you do like him and you hope that while he’s in town to go to his friends funeral, that he’ll run into Josie.
So, he runs into Josie and he tries to apologize for his behavior. He tells her that he knows he had put his wants and desires before hers. He wants her to believe him when he says he realizes that you can, basically, have your cake and eat it, too.

Happy to see she’s had success as well, he goes to the flower shop that she owns, to ask her out. She shows him something else that his selfishness caused him to miss out on when he left. She introduces him to her daughter, Billy (Fortson). She was named after Liam’s mother. Seeing her and hearing her name, he immediately knows what he could never replace and what he missed… the birth of his daughter and being there for her and watching her grow up. Billy is smart, cute and nothing gets by her, much like the actress who played her.
Liam begs to be a part of her life and must now prove he is worthy to be in it. A scene where Billy complains about riding in his convertible is simply priceless. She doesn’t make jumping into fatherhood easy on him but they get used to one another and she warms up to him rather quickly. When he buys her a guitar, they bond over music and suddenly you can just imagine where a sequel could go.

Forever My Girl follows the pattern of formulaic scripts that have come before it. It’s a, ‘boy leaves girl at altar to seek fame and fortune but his roots in the town and in family are buried deep and can’t be pulled out quite so easily’ story. But at its core, it’s loving and it has a good message of forgiveness. It works. It has a slow-motion, playful montage scene to complete the look but it gives us something that many films of the genre do not; a strong leading male character who’s sensitive and willing to admit he’s wrong and give up everything for his true love… loves.

Phantom Thread Movie Reivew

January 12, 2018 (updated January 16, 2018) Published by Shari K. Green

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the best in the business. He has given us Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and The Master and in knowing this, you are groomed ahead of time and fixed for a compelling story shot in an extraordinary way that will lead you into a world that you can believe exists beyond the shadow of a doubt… right next door. With Anderson’s new film Phantom Thread, it’s no different.
Even above the story, he cast one of the best actors in the business in Daniel Day-Lewis. Unfortunately for us, Day-Lewis has decided to make this film his last but what a way to go. This fascinating piece and his performance in it will not be forgotten, as their work together in There Will Be Blood will never be.

The opening of this intriguing tale is orchestrated with the movement of the actors. Right away, we are introduced to Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis) and are witness to what he does for a living. He is a renowned couturiere, or fashion designer, in London in the 1950s, which were really the last decade when women of style had their clothes custom-crafted by garment makers. Reynolds, who lives with his sister, is deeply superstitious and very eccentric with how he handles his work, believing his dead mother is all around him, encouraging his work. He has always been taken care of and doesn’t quite know how to speak with women other than to order them around as he does his models. He’s used to spending some time with women he beds, leading them on and then he moves away rather abruptly. He’s an incurable bachelor and believes marriage only leads to deceit… until he meets a waitress by the name of Alma (Krieps) who doesn’t play into this. She questions and defies him, unlike any woman ever has, and he’s immediately intrigued. He’s both bothered and smitten by her at the same time and begins to see her as his muse. Unlike most people he engages, Alma is unrefined and obnoxious and when she challenges him it throws him off. Reynolds behaves like a spoiled child because he has always gotten his way. He prefers to have the last word and with Alma, he doesn’t always get what he wants.

As one might expect from a Paul Thomas Anderson film, Phantom Thread is full of surprises. What you think this movie will be by watching the trailer and what you believe is going on while you’re watching it might not be what’s actually playing out. Anderson is also the cinematographer on the film and to give you the overall feeling of how people lived in the period, he had all of his equipment inside of a small house rather than using a soundstage which set the tone beautifully and helped lend to an aura of madness and authenticity. Reynolds expects Alma to give more than he’s willing to give and as we go deeper into his psyche, we see the vulnerable boy the man holding the thread truly is.

This is an incredibly intelligent film, rich in characters with a beautiful score. The chemistry between Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps is strong and Anderson takes advantage of it every chance he gets, using both their strengths and their weaknesses to bewilder his audience. You’ll love the buildup and the dialogue to the final moments. It is slow to start but the payoff is well worth every second. This is legitimately a brilliant film. You’ll want to see it more than once.

The Commuter Movie Review

January 12, 2018 Published by Shari K. Green

Though this genre is what Liam Neeson uses his particular set of skills best for, he may have wanted to take a pass on this ride for the better of the film. That said, I like anything he’s in and did enjoy him but there were times I felt he was cast only for his name and not for what would have been more plausible. Neeson is now sixty-five years of age and his character, Mike MacCauley, is sixty. It was hard to watch him, even using suspension of disbelief, fight an ax-wielding younger man and believe he could stay in the fight, let alone win. A lot of editing is used to make him look younger and capable, but we’re not fooled. Outside of tricks used to make him look like he’s a badass, there are a lot of other visuals that are too far-fetched to accept as real, however, they come with high intensity, so you’ll forgive every one of them.

The opening credits are excellent and are used creatively to introduce you, over a span of time, to Mike and his family. He’s working hard to pay the bills for him and his wife’s mortgage and also his son who is about to go to college and will be needing tuition soon. The credits also take you on his commute. Directly after the credits, Mike, an ex-cop, goes into his insurance job where he’s five years from retirement. He’s called into his boss’s office and is let go. The news is devastating as he already lives hand to mouth and has no nest egg to rely on. He goes and has a drink with Alex ‘Murph’ Murphy (Wilson) and tells him what happened. This is where the movie isn’t exactly subtle in a few hints it drops. At the bar, we also meet Captain Hawthorne (Neill), who Mike used to work with and who has now moved up in ranks. You won’t exactly miss some of the set-ups here. When Mike leaves the bar, he finds a seat on his train to head home and our adventure begins.

A woman by the name of Joanna (Farmiga) sits across from him and strikes up a conversation. He tells her that he’s married and she tells him that’s not why she’s talking to him. She explains that she studies human behavior and says she wants to know what type of person he is by asking him one questions. That question is if she asked him to do something, anything, would he do it? He, of course, wants to know what type of thing. She tells him and also says that a reward would be offered but he’d never know the consequences of his actions. What she needs is for him to find someone on the train that doesn’t belong. His interest is piqued and yours will be, as well. What he is to do when he finds this person is plant a tracking device on a bag that they are carrying. He’s offered $25,000 for taking it and an extra 75,000 upon completion of the task. He does suspect that something isn’t right but having just lost his job, a $100,000 payday sure sounds nice. He has until the Cold Spring stop to finish the deed.

Having accepted the assignment, the film slows down a bit as he wades through the trivial, even boring characters on the train with him. I have to mention to be on the lookout for a certain Goldman Sachs reference you might appreciate. Anyway, with threats now coming from Joanna, he’s getting more and more crazed and desperate as he searches for the mystery man. Eventually, Mike decides he’s not going to find who Joanna wants him to for the reason she wants him to. Once a cop, always a cop.

There are a great many clichés in the film and you’ll recognize Collet-Serra’s ode to Hitchcock films but herein lies the fun even though a lot of the CG and hand-held camera work is quite bad at times. As we move along the tracks our story builds and our energy is heightened. The movie is always engaging.

You’ll have a lot of fun with The Commuter especially if you’re a Neeson fan and if you are fascinated with action movies that are way over the top. Again, if you’re a fan of Liam Neeson, you can’t skip what’s sure to be the last of this genre for him. He’ll give you his all, as he always has, even if this isn’t his best.

Official Website: www.TheCommuter.movie

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhantomThread/

Twitter: @TheCommuterFilm

Instagram: @TheCommuterFilm

#TheCommuter

2017 Box Office Number 1 Movies

January 8, 2018 Published by JMcNaughton

Box Office results for 2017

Movies that reached Number 1 – three weeks in a row

Split
Fate of the Furious
The Hitmans’s Bodyguard
Coco

Not quite as impressive – these 9 movies reached Number 1 – but only two weeks in a row

Hidden Figures
Beauty and the Beast
The Boss Baby
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Wonder Woman
Dunkirk
It
Thor: Ragnorok
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Also, note that Hidden Figures was on the 2016/2017 year end divide, but it did not finish 2016 as Number 1.

There were 20 other movies that reached Number 1 for a single week (and did not repeat)

The Post Movie Review

January 5, 2018 (updated January 5, 2018) Published by JMcNaughton

“The Post” is a terrific movie that deserves to be seen and deserves to be rewarded. This movie is not just yesterday’s news…

Hostiles Movie Review

January 5, 2018 (updated January 5, 2018) Published by Shari K. Green

Hostiles is an engaging western narrative about a stiff and reluctant Army Captain and his journey to tribal lands with a war chief he loathes. Yes, I did say western, something you don’t see very often. No matter what genre of film you might deem your favorite and which you’d usually steer clear of, I must insist you look at all of the players involved in this project and consider seeing this even if it might go against your grain. It made my and many other film critics top movies of the year list. Hostiles stars Christian Bale as emotionally charged Captain Joseph Blocker, who couldn’t be more indignant and hateful if he tried. The film is set in 1892 at a time when men like Block have been hardened by years of fighting native Americans, taking their lands and destroying their lives. Block practically regards them as subhuman.

Older now, the job he is assigned to at his post is that of the jailer. Currently, he’s at a prison in New Mexico where he’s anything but kind to the natives he leaves them in exposed cells to bake in the sun all day. One of those natives is Chief Yellow Hawk (Studi), who he despises from previous battles. For the first time in his years with the Army, he gets an order that he’d rather not fulfill. He is asked to escort chief Yellow Hawk, who has been imprisoned for seven years and is now riddled with cancer, to Montana to die and be laid to rest in his tribal burial site. The president, in an attempt to right things with the Cheyenne Indians, is asking this of Block yet even this personal request doesn’t help get through to this soldier who is very set in his ways. He’s against any native, let alone this once great warrior, being allowed to contrive, petition for and obtain such an honor. With his future benefits on the line, he unenthusiastically gets a team together to be the chaperone for the chief and his family. The moment they’re out of sight of the compound, he shows them who he really is. He humiliates Yellow Hawk by putting him in binds and by cutting of the female’s hair.

While on their trek, they come across Rosalie Quaid (Pike), a young mother whose husband and children were recently murdered by some very hostile Comanche warriors. Usually quite hostile himself, Blocker shows empathy for the woman when he notices she clutches to and tends to a dead infant as though it were still alive. Bale brings one of his best performances as he shows a strong aura of altruism and expresses goodwill and humanity in slight gestures, revealing how deeply he understands what the woman is going through and how fear, anger and the loss of love got her to where she barely hangs on by a thread. Earlier in the film, we see what she and her family go through when the Comanche happen upon them. Though it isn’t overly gory, it is jarring when they’re killed. Unable to leave her behind, Block has Rosalie join them and a friendship develops. I must mention that much like the terrain they ride, Pike’s character has so many peaks and valleys that I wouldn’t be surprised to see her end up with an Oscar nomination. The individual she portrays is challenging and with her performance, she meets every one of her challenges.

At a post they stop at for the night, Blocker picks up an Army Sergeant turned vicious criminal, Charles Wills (Foster), who needs to be transported to Montana to face trial. Blocker does this believing Wills will be someone he could easily handle since Blocker was above him as they served in battle together. Surely they will understand one another. However, when Wills sees that Blocker has grown a little soft, actually speaking to the natives in his charge, he escapes, and the film gets bloody once again.

Through rhetoric that comes from Block and Wills, and as the film progresses, you’ll realize one thing above all else about why this film was made. It’s a strong reminder that this country has been fighting in a war and for a long time… that war is Racism. Blocker and Yellow Hawk have a moment of genuine respect and a mutual meeting of the minds and in that scene, you watch the significant message America needs to hear play out. If westerns of the past didn’t make it clear, this film makes it crystal. The natives have been horribly mistreated and judged unfairly but it is possible to peacefully coexist and we must if we’re going to find peace in this world. It’s through peace and understanding that all things are possible.

Category: Reviews