Such a frustrating disappointment

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

You just do not ever ever ever kill the dog. Not ever.

It's intriguing that I found this to be an interesting movie, considering that for the most part I thought it had some difficulty trying to establish what it wanted to be. Certainly it's a western - gunfights and horses and a marshal. It often feels as though it wants to be a comedy. The scenes with the drunken preacher wanting to "save" the town of Denton were humorous, as was a lot of the interplay between the various characters. It's most certainly a revenge story. Paul (Ethan Hawke) is out for blood after the killing of his beloved dog. And don't forget the dog. One of the cutest dogs and most talented dogs you'll ever come across in a movie - it upset me when she was killed partway through. So this is going in a lot of different directions all at once, and yet ... it does work. It's not great. It's not going to win an Oscar. But it works.Hawke was good in his role. He was believable as the lonely drifter seeking revenge after his faithful companion was taken from him for no particular reason. James Ransone as his main adversary Gilly didn't hit home quite as well with me. He was all right. I was more taken with John Travolta as the marshal - who also happened to be Gilly's father. I've seen some criticism of him - suggestions that he was miscast - but I thought he handled the part pretty well, and to be honest I was sympathetic to his character. He didn't do anything. He let Paul off the hook when he could have taken him in after he and Gilly got into a fight to start the whole thing. He told his son and his buddies not to go after Paul - and he wasn't happy when they defied him and did it anyway. He didn't deserve his fate.It's not a lavish movie. The sets are pretty barebones - and the opening credits were bizarre. They reminded me of the opening credits of a 1960's TV show somehow and kind of lowered my expectations from the start of what I should expect. But the movie exceeded those expectations once it got started. I also appreciated that in the end there was no attempt to introduce a romance into the story. Had there been one it surely would have been between Paul and Mary Anne (Taissa Farmiga.) The problem would have been that Mary Anne was supposed to be 16 years old. I suppose in the context of the Old West a romance between them wouldn't have been shocking - but given the current climate in Hollywood, it's probably best that the movie didn't go in that direction. This just turned out to be a pretty decent and interesting movie. (6/10)

In a Valley of Violence is written and directed by Ti West. It stars Ethan Hawke, Taissa Farmiga, James Ransome, Karen Gillan and John Travolta. Music is by Jeff Grace and cinematography by Eric Robbins.Ethan Hawke plays Paul, an ex soldier accompanied only by his dog, Abbie, who is drifting across the desert towards Mexico. Stopping off in the dying town of Denton, Paul finds trouble that will have consequences for himself and town alike.Ti West is more well known for his horror ventures, where although divisive in that genre sphere, he can be proud of his success rate. Here he tackles the Western, and true to form, he homages past genre masters whilst unmistakably putting his own stamp on things. Opening with credits straight out of Spaghetti Western land, and introducing us to a musical score that will accompany the story that is wonderfully feverish, West is in no hurry for blood and bone shenanigans. He always favours the slow burn and so it proves here.There's nothing remotely new here, it's a standard tale of a gunman - one damaged by his war efforts - who through circumstance is forced to abandon his hope of a quiet life. He's a loner man of few words, thus giving viewers a classic Western character staple, an anti-hero to root for and for us to yearn for him to find peace. When the violence comes, it's sharp and bloody, but often there is humour as well, deftly inserted into proceedings, whilst the canine is skillful and a key character to all and sundry.Perfs are more than adequate. Hawke sifts seamlessly into being a believable drifter type of complexity, Ransome is annoyingly brattish, but that's actually job well done, and Travolta - sporting a wooden leg - gets better once (and if) you buy into him in this setting. Gillan isn't given much to do, but lands some decent emotive punches, but it's Farmiga who stands out as Mary-Anne. She's utterly infectious and thankfully she gets a well written part, that of a young woman trying to hold her own in the most trying of township circumstance.The purpose built town of Denton looks just that!, but this is off- set a touch by the nice location landscapes (Santa Fe, New Mexico), and with the story working from solid genre foundations then this is a pleasure - without pulling up any trees - for fans of such. 7/10

This was a veiled attempt to recreate a Clint Eastwood character of the spaghetti westerns for which Mr. Eastwood realized great fame and success in the 1960's. Simply put, Ethan Hawke isn't Clint Eastwood. My greatest criticism of the movie is inappropriate dialogue for the time depicted in the film. I have several examples of verbiage not suited for the time period, but I will leave that to be experienced by the viewer. Some of the violence seemed to be a little overcooked. Though Hawke did a credible job as the lead character, his performance did not rise to the level of Travolta. Dog Abbie probably gave the best performance in the movie; however, all of the supporting actors did well in their respective roles.