Anyone who reads my reviews will know that I feel the western genre to be be a mostly dead one. So why did I choose Forsaken as my Saturday night film? 2 reasons! Kiefer Sutherland and his father, Donald.
Now, Forsaken has a very weak plot and is littered with the gunslinger cliches, however, I really enjoyed it. This can be attributed mainly to the likeness of the 2 lead actors, but also to that of the role of Michael Wincott (Platoon; The Crow) and his portrayal of gun-for-hire 'Gentleman' Dave Turner. In fact, Wincot is so cool, he could be guilty of being a bit of a scene stealer. Had his role been expanded, we could have seen one of the best performances in a western in decades.
Kiefer puts in a terrific performance and his opening up to Pa is one so good that even the hardest of men will find themselves choking at. Perhaps this is why Wincott is on screen less, so that Sutherland's performance wouldn't be overshadowed.
Donald, playing reverend William Clayton, isn't given that much screen time and is pretty much there as a McGuffin (something that moves the plot along). This can be said of Brit heavyweight Brian Cox. His town bad guy never really amounts to much and we never get to see what Cox could have brought to the role.
The original cut of the film runs in at 3hrs 15mins, but this released version only runs for 90 minutes. There was an entire sub-plot removed and the resulting cut, focussing on the relationship between John Henry (Kiefer). It would be interesting to see the longer cut with the where and how's of character development. Kiefer dies go from one of not believing in God, to praying for forgiveness very quickly.
Forsaken is one I would recommend and with such a short runtime, it holds your interest and has some solid performances
Anyone who reads my reviews will know that I feel the western genre to be be a mostly dead one. So why did I choose Forsaken as my Saturday night film? 2 reasons! Kiefer Sutherland and his father, Donald.
Now, Forsaken has a very weak plot and is littered with the gunslinger cliches, however, I really enjoyed it. This can be attributed mainly to the likeness of the 2 lead actors, but also to that of the role of Michael Wincott (Platoon; The Crow) and his portrayal of gun-for-hire 'Gentleman' Dave Turner. In fact, Wincot is so cool, he could be guilty of being a bit of a scene stealer. Had his role been expanded, we could have seen one of the best performances in a western in decades.
Kiefer puts in a terrific performance and his opening up to Pa is one so good that even the hardest of men will find themselves choking at. Perhaps this is why Wincott is on screen less, so that Sutherland's performance wouldn't be overshadowed.
Donald, playing reverend William Clayton, isn't given that much screen time and is pretty much there as a McGuffin (something that moves the plot along). This can be said of Brit heavyweight Brian Cox. His town bad guy never really amounts to much and we never get to see what Cox could have brought to the role.
The original cut of the film runs in at 3hrs 15mins, but this released version only runs for 90 minutes. There was an entire sub-plot removed and the resulting cut, focussing on the relationship between John Henry (Kiefer). It would be interesting to see the longer cut with the where and how's of character development. Kiefer dies go from one of not believing in God, to praying for forgiveness very quickly.
Forsaken is one I would recommend and with such a short runtime, it holds your interest and has some solid performances
