Year: 2016
Director: Ti West
In A Valley Of Violence has got 8 reviews on IMDB to date, four good and four bad. The bad ones criticise the story and the screenplay, comparing the story to the Keanu Reeves shoot-em-up revenge film John Wick (albeit as a Western). Which is fair enough. But the screenplay redeems it for me. It really turns the idea of classic tough guys on its head, showing them as people who really don’t want to get hurt, much less killed. The tough guys are Ethan Hawke and John Travolta, neither of whom fits the usual clearly delineated goodie/baddie stereotype.
I was interested to see the baddest baddie is played by James Ransone, who I last saw having a fully explicit wank in the Larry Clark film Ken Park! Nice to see he’s gone on to have a proper career after such a courageously unselfconscious start. Also stars Doctor Who’s old assistant, Karen Gillan.
Oh and the dog is brilliant.
Three stars.
Might appeal to people who enjoyed:
John Wick, Unforgiven.
Not keen on Westerns, don’t like violence, not a fan of Travolta, find Ethan Hawke at best irritating. However, Karen Gillan you say….?
*Searches cinema listings*
Woah, John Wick and Unforgiven are two of my favourite films!
Oooh, Ti West. Interesting to see him doing something outside of horror (and with a reasonable budget judging from the cast). He made The Innkeepers, which is one of my favourite scary films of recent years.
Is that three stars out of ten?
Out of five, as per Empire. I thought it was good entertainment and well worth watching, but not exceptional.
I fired up a recent Nic Cage film last night, ‘Trust’, also starring Elijah Wood of ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Maniac’ fame.
I bailed at the halfway mark, but up to then it was 1/5.