Wonderful Movie

Memorable, crazy movie

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This movie was, despite the claims of many others, an excellent western. I am not sure how people define how a western should be, but I look back to the horse opera pulp fiction of the former century.This movie had a hero town between his want for revenge and moral convictions bestowed upon him with his father's dying words and a psychotic villain whose greed motivates him to acts of unspeakable horror.This film is surely vilified by the double standard held by fans of film today. It is not high-budget enough to be considered as relevant as any film that gets a theatrical release and it is not low-budget enough to get passed off as camp. If this movie were made thirty years ago and starred Clint Eastwood, it would be a classic.There has not been a villain in a western so good as this films since Gene Hackman in Unforgiven.This movie is Pulp, it is not drama, neither is it one of the pointless morality lessons written by Cormac McCarthy.There is a place in the middle between the highly stylized Spaghetti Westerns and the dramatic The Unforgiven. This movie belongs on that line.The bottom line: If you are a fan of Westerns, particularly in novel format, you will like this film. If you are a fan of films and do not like it when a movie sticks to the formula of its genre, then you should probably look elsewhere.This movie is not going to change your life; it does however entertain.

Shadowheart begins with a reference to Matthew 6:14 – 15. These two verses command people to forgive those who trespass against them as God forgives us for ours. We expect the film to connect somehow to this theme.It never does.In fact, there are so many murders (I lost track after eight), only a war movie could produce more. Yet of all the pointless mayhem, only one was justified or meaningful. If we were paying attention to the Bible verse at the beginning, no one was forgiven and therefore God should not forgive us.Big SpoilerYet the very last scene shows the dead wife of James Conners, the main character, leading him through the white light to what lies beyond – presumably heaven. We expect to see something about forgiveness and we get pointless retribution.I did not like this film not because of the violence. I think the Godfather Saga is a timeless masterpiece. I did not like this because it had Christian overtones. I think Fireproof is a good film that addresses the difficulties of modern marriage. Fireproof has many weaknesses, which a viewer has to overlook including what I think is an impossible problem to overcome. Still it's an interesting film. I disliked this film because it was disjointed. I disliked this film because it did not seem to know what it was trying to do nor where it was going. I would like to say that there was some sort of redeeming feature, but I don't think there was.I gave it a four because I kept hoping something coherent would happen. There was enough writing to create hope, alas never fulfilled.

I hate to write those words, as I can only imagine the work that the entire cast and crew puts into a production like this. However, it fell short -- way short. My 9 year old daughter, her friend, and I all agreed it was a "bad movie -- that was terrible" (their words.) No redemption as promised -- just revenge. Just plain bad acting early on; boring for the first 15 minutes; music intrudes constantly, not helping the dialog; many lines mumbled/unintelligible; continuity gaffes intrude; and so on. I will say the production values were pretty good -- lighting, color, some good shots. LMAO that the character of "spider" is the writer/director -- who, justly, gets it in the end. While the plot is entirely predictable, so what, it's a western. I take exception to the supposedly "Christian" values. Throwing in scriptural quotations, having a pastor as a sympathetic character and vague spiritual references do not count. "Shawshank" is a much more Christian film, IMHO, or any of a huge number of other films that actually engage your mind and faith in challenging ways. Sadly, this film was just plain disappointing. Even at $1 at Redbox.

The bad guy was too bad, no redeeming qualities. (and the good guy was too good, no redeeming qualities.) When the sheriff didn't just shoot him in jail - when no one with a gun would shoot him, well, there were no characters to root for and we had to turn the thing off! I don't know what else to say about it except we think the other reviewer was being kind. Too bad. We were looking forward to a good western for the family. I have to write three more lines, but I have nothing more to say... The bad guy was too bad, no redeeming qualities. (and the good guy was too good, no redeeming qualities.) When the sheriff didn't just shoot him in jail - when no one with a gun would shoot him, well, there were no characters to root for and we had to turn the thing off! I don't know what else to say about it except we think the other reviewer was being kind. Too bad. We were looking forward to a good western for the family.