Film Review
By Oliver Lyttelton | The Playlist
October 13, 2015
It's been three years since Quentin Tarantino's
smash hit "Django Unchained," and the end of 2015 suggests we might
be in one of the more fertile periods for the Western since its golden age. TV
shows like "Hell On Wheels" and "Longmire" continue to draw
loyal audiences, while Tarantino returns to the genre at Christmas with
"The Hateful Eight," just as his 'Django' star Leonardo DiCaprio gets
back on the horse, so to speak, for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "The
Revenant." And that's not to mention recent indie fare like "The
Salvation" and "The Keeping Room." And now, there's S. Craig
Zahler's debut feature "Bone Tomahawk," which shares a leading actor
with Tarantino's forthcoming picture in Kurt Russell, as well as a certain
sensibility. And though "Bone Tomahawk" has a less substantial
profile than the awards season pictures to come, it sets the bar remarkably
high.
As its great name might suggest, "Bone
Tomahawk" isn't a straight-up Western —instead, the picture adds horror
elements, which get teased in the opening sequence. The movie kicks off with an
image of a sleeping man having his neck brutally sliced open, and we shortly
meet Buddy (Sid Haig) and Purvis (David Arquette), a couple of low-life outlaws
who've just robbed and massacred a group of travellers. But they get theirs
swiftly: after stumbling onto a burial ground of some kind, Buddy is
slaughtered by... something.
Purvis gets away, but is soon shot in the leg,
apprehended in a small town by Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Russell) and locked up. Local
doctor Samantha O'Dwyer ("Banshee" star Lili Simmons) is asked to
tend to the prisoner, but they're both gone the next morning, while a group of
horses have been stolen and a stable boy has been disembowelled. It swiftly
emerges that they've been taken by what local Native American The Professor
(David Midthunder) calls "troglodytes" —ancient, incestuous, cannibalistic
cave-dwellers— and Hunt assembles a posse which includes his elderly widower
deputy Chicory (Richard Jenkins); O'Dwyer's husband Arthur (Patrick Wilson),
who's crippled by a broken leg; and dapper, bigoted gunslinger John Brooder
(Matthew Fox).
The premise could be some kind of stripped-down
genre picture, but part of the enormous pleasure of Zahler's film (he's a
novelist and screenwriter who topped the Black List years back with an
as-yet-unmade script called "The Brigands Of Rattleborge") is the way
it becomes anything but. It's a film with the rhythms of the Old West —there's
an urgency to our heroes' mission, but it's also going to take three days to
get there if they're lucky, and so Zahler's unafraid to let character and
conversation lead the way, and to digress or pause when needed.
The result is pleasingly unhurried (the film has a
hefty running time of two hours and fifteen minutes, never overstaying its
welcome) without ever losing grip of the stakes or the ticking clock. Part of
this is due to Zahler's engaging writing, which carries a grimy authenticity
and an almost "Deadwood"-ish love for language and gallows humour.
But not every cast could pull this material off, and though he doesn't have the
marquee names that Tarantino easily summons, Zahler's found the perfect bunch
here.
Russell’s role is arguably the least interesting —
he’s essentially playing Kurt Russell, and as he has for the past forty-odd
years, he does a cracking job at it. That said, I do hope “The Hateful Eight”
gives him more to play than "hyper-competent man of action." Wilson
appears to be playing to type as well: few actors have embodied a sort of impotent
weakness in modern masculinity like he has in recent years, to the extent that
its almost become dull to see him play that sort of part. Here, he initially
seems to be steering into that same kind of turn, but the movie plays against
it, giving him a hidden strength that belies his physical condition. It’s one
of the canniest bits of using an established persona in casting I’ve seen in
years, and it's Wilson’s best performance in a long time.
It’s no surprise that Richard Jenkins is brilliant
in the film (he's consistently brilliant) but he’s particularly so here,
bringing many of the film’s laughs, but also a big helping of its pathos. More
surprising is that Matthew Fox is excellent too. The line in “Knocked Up” —“Do
you know what’s interesting about Matthew Fox? Nothing”— seemed to catch on too
much for the “Lost” star’s career, but he’s terrific here, effortlessly
painting a slick, serious man with a very dark side, never quite becoming
sympathetic, but never becoming a total bastard either.
The movie gets into genuine splatter territory in
the final third (including the grisliest kill I’ve seen in any movie in a long
time), but the tonal leap seems entirely assured —it’s only one more brutal
part of the old West. But the film also uses the situation to comment not just
on the genre: it has some smart things to say about both the demonization of
the Native Americans in Westerns and the role of women (Lili Simmons is also
excellent, if absent for much of the running time by necessity of the plot).
The real meat of the story comes in a sort of examination of masculinity, with
four very different examples provided, and it’s a rare film to approach the
subject with sensitivity and smarts without descending into boorishness.
Zahler’s probably a writer before he’s a director
at this point, but he still handles the visuals more than capably (relative
newcomer DP Benji Bakshi does a great job), and for a long, often talky film,
he keeps it moving along —unusually, the picture ends exactly where it should.
“Bone Tomahawk” is a proper Western, a proper horror movie, and by combining
the two, becomes something else entirely, and proves hugely enjoyable for it.
Frankly, I can’t wait to see what Zahler does next. [A-]
Bone Tomahawk – English title
A 2014 U.S.A., British co-production [Caliber
Media Company (Hollywood), The Fyzz Facility
(London)]
Producers: Jack Heller, Dallas Sonnier, Amanda
Mortimer, Gregory Zuk
Director: S. Craig Zahler
Story: S. Craig Zahler
Screenplay: S. Craig Zahler
Cinematography: Benji Bakshi [color]
Music: Jeff Herriott, S. Craig Zahler
Running time: 132 minutes
Story: Four men set out in the Wild West to rescue
a group of captives from cannibalistic cave dwellers.
Cast:
Sheriff Franklin Hunt – Kurt Russell
Arthur O'Dwyer – Patrick Wilson
Mrs. Porter – Sean Young
Samantha O'Dwyer – Lili Simmons
John Brooder – Matthew Fox
Purvis – David Arquette
Mr. Wallington – Michael Paré
Buddy – Sid Haig
Loma Hunt – Kathryn Morris
Chicory – Richard Jenkins
Boar Tusks – Geno Sagers
Serrated Tomahawk – Brandon Molale
Sharp Teeth – Jay Tavare
Clarence – Fred Melamed
Guapo – Omar Leyva
Troglodytes – Marem Hassler, Susie Castaneda
Wolf Skull – Raw Leiba
Nick – Evan Jonigkeit
Ramiro – Erick Chavarria
Red-Headed Man – Michael Emery
Buford – Jeremy Tardy
Horse Thief – Ardeshir Radpour
With: Jamie Hector, Zahn McClarnon, James Tolkan,
David Midthunder, Robert Allen Mukes, Eddie Spears, Jamison Newlander, Keith
Longhorn, Gray Wolf Herrara
Stunt coordinator: Chris Carnel
Stunts: John Dixon, Jason Gray, Cliff McLaughlin, Mario
Perez, Nicholas Verdi, Blake Woodruff
Opening at theaters nationwide October 23rd.
YouTube trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZbwtHi-KSE
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