Truly Dreadful Film

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Reading previous reviews and comments of this film, some people really didn't like this film. Personally, i really found enjoyment in this film, but i can see why others didn't. It doesn't contain expensive costumes, lots of fight scenes and numerous interesting characters. In a way, reading the plot line suggests these things MAY exist in the film. In fact, this film is about the personal struggle of a Knight, once held in high regard, who falls into depression and a self destructive path after his love his killed. The only thing of hers he possesses, her ring that he had given her, is lost when he drunkenly gambles it away in a game of chance. Once he sobers up the next day, he realizes what he has done and sets out to find it. Where the journey takes him throughout the film is his own personal progression from being a sorrowful drunk to regaining his honor as a knight of prestige. The amount of characters he meets along the way are minimal and are basically there to act as a buffer so the main character isn't the only one on screen for the entirety of the film.This film has some wonderful scenic views and takes full advantage of this throughout the feature. This film also has a wonderful soundtrack and the composer is actually one of the supporting characters in the film. Where this film fails is its lengthy sequences. There are many scenes of the main character Asbrey is walking through the forests. Lots of these scenes are key to his back story and his predicament, but there are many scenes that could have been cut down in time. One that stands out is his walk through the desert in the last act of the film. It attempts to depict how traveling through the desert can drive someone mad, but instead will drive the viewer mad by how long it takes for this sequence to end. Also, the are a few scenes where Asbrey encounters a wolf that appears to be helping him. While i'm guessing it is left to the viewers interpretation as to what the wolf represents, it is never made clear in the film.In conclusion, this in my opinion is a lovely gem that i can and have watched more than once. It saddens me that the director has not moved on to bigger and better things, especially when i learned he was only a film student when he made this film. Blake Stadel as Asbrey in the lead role is above average, nothing more, and majority of the supporting cast are adequate. It is not an original plot, not a groundbreaking script, but an enjoyable experience when you know what you are getting into.

The scenery is beautiful, and many times you'll be thinking to yourself, "Where is this place??" In particular, there is a scene with a waterfall that just cries to be walked to and explored.So far as an actual film, it would have been better served as a series of postcards, as you get breathtaking vistas with only little snippets of storyline on the back to figure out what is going on. And while the acting is pretty atrocious, it is both good and bad to note that the dialog is thin and minutes pass without any words being spoken. A little voice also appears in your head after about 20 minutes whispering in your ear, "Come on, something has to happen to move the story forward". But it never comes, and you're just watching, plodding along waiting desperately for the next ill conceived plot device taking set in overwhelming scenery shots.If you're looking for anything remotely interesting, stay away.

I love fantasy and SF in film, from cheesy Japanese rubber suiters to big budget Spielberg. Bad films have their own peculiar charm. It pains me to report that "Westender" is a bona fide bomb that fails on just about every level. It's an attempt to combine several genres, which as we've all seen can work pretty well. The problem is, it does all of them badly.The "Heroic Quest" forms the basis of the plot. Without giving too much away, the story line is as formulaic and generic as you can get...MINUS the final moment of resolution/redemption that usually caps this kind of film. It didn't really end...it just sort of...stopped. Roll credits. But there are a few other film styles that waft through this stinker like farts on a breeze. They include: The "Metaphysical Journey of Exploration", exemplified (and much parodied) by directors like Bergman and Antonioni. This accounts for the interminable sequences of the sun-baked hero staggering across vast wastes. This is Symbolic, you see, of his Inner Emptiness: and the grass on the far side of the desert is Symbolic of his Newly Awakened and Heightened Spiritual Consciousness. Phew. Pretty darned mystical. With all due respect to the reviewers who found profundity in this excruciating exercise in undergrad angst...there isn't an interesting idea to be found in the whole nine hours of the film. (Yes, I know what the duration on the label says. But it FEELS like nine hours. At least.) "Revisionist Medievalism" (in the style of "Ladyhawke" or "Princess Bride") wherein people in Middle Ages costumes and settings exhibit contemporary characters and language. It can be funny. Here, it's just inconsistent and annoying. "Hommage", in which characters and situations borrowed from other films pop up, presumably to show us the director is aware of them. So we have little moments that resemble low-budget Kurusawa, Boorman, Fellini, and others. If the film worked, these might have been amusing. It doesn't, and they're not, except as a mild distraction on your descent into torpor.And one final comment for folks who have commented on the "stunning beauty" and "epic grandeur" of the scenery: you know, if you take a camera somewhere beautiful and shoot a wide shot, you're going to have a nice looking shot. There's not much trick to it.

Westender is the breakthrough film for M.O.B. Productions. Shot in the filmmakers' home state of Oregon, it is only the beginning for these guys.The characters are well developed, the cinematography is beautiful, and the story is satisfying. If you're paying attention, you get all the information you really need to know about the characters. I'm not saying the movie is perfect, all movies have their flaws and weak moments, but for being an Indy film early on in the career of M.O.B. Productions, it is very impressive.I'm personally a M.O.B. Productions fan and I'm excited to see what these guys have in store.