Modern Westerns Are Still Westerns for Me

Read Time:2 Minute, 35 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The Last Son
–

Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Western
Year Released: 2022
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director(s): Tim Sutton
Writer(s): Greg Johnson
Cast: Sam Worthington, Colson Baker (Machine Gun Kelly,) Thomas Jane, Emily Marie Palmer, Heather Graham
Where To Watch: available now streaming and DVD/Blu-ray.

Admittedly, I’m not a massive fan of the Western genre, and I feel that’s something I need to preface any review of a Western with. I still try to view them objectively, but it’s hard to be completely unbiased. To put that into comparison, I wasn’t a fan of last year's THE POWER OF THE DOG (clearly, I was in the minority there, the film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards.) I do attempt to watch Westerns randomly, though, because of this, and it’s the same thing I do for kung-fu films. I feel that I have become a better film reviewer by watching movies that I traditionally don’t find to be from my favorite genres.

Unfortunately for this one, I couldn’t get past the pacing of the film; the story was interesting when it was going, but it felt like there were a lot of downtimes. That could be due to my not being a fan of the genre. I will say that I was blown away by the scenery of the film. Honestly, probably one of the most beautiful films since NOMADLAND, the use of the outdoors was gorgeously done. One scene stayed with me; there was a shot through a bunch of trees, framing the character to a point where they were nearly insignificant compared to their surroundings. Something about that hit me; I’ve always been impressed when a film can do that with a visual.

I was a fan of the film's brutal take on the genre, and they never strayed from going all out when it came to the violence and blood. I think that added an accurate level of realism that you don’t often see in the modern western. Too often, they’re toned down, and that’s a shame because the west was brutal!

The film’s draw was a fantastic cast, including Sam Worthington (AVATAR, CLASH OF THE TITANS,) Colson Baker – aka Machine Gun Kelly, and Heather Graham (BOOGIE NIGHTS, TWIN PEAKS.) I feel like this could have been quite the impressive film had they been given more to do. As always, you know that I think people should watch and judge for themselves! This is available in the US on digital platforms and arriving digitally in the UK today too.

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