I’ve never understood the appeal of Stephen Dorf. The son of songwriter Steve Dorf, he’s another “Nepo Baby” that overestimated his abilities and his popularity. There were a few times here and there where he wasn’t too bad. His performance in the third season of True Detective alongside Mahershala Ali has been his best so far in a nearly 40-year career.
But he mostly just gives off a vibe like a real-life Rick Dalton or Gloria Swanson who thinks they’re still the greatest but it’s the industry around them has changed for the worst, so it’s not all their fault. Yet, a movie like Gunslingers is another low point in his career where he needs a paycheck to keep living the lifestyle he wants.
He also co-stars with Nicolas Cage giving another over the top performance that isn’t his best and Heather Graham who thankfully was saved a Golden Raspberry nomination. Cage, on the other hand, did get nominated as well as another “Nepo Baby” Scarlet Rose Stallone (daughter of Sly and Jennifer Flavin), who is really given nothing to do. There are eight or nine production companies or independent studios associated with this movie.
I’m guessing that Stallone’s casting was a quid pro quo in order to get some producer to help finance it or take out a loan to help with post-production. Set in the mid 1900s, Dorf plays Thomas Keller who has gone west after fatally shooting a member of the Rockeller family in New York City. With a big price on his head, he’s avoided as many people as he can and is constantly on the move.
But when he comes to the town of Redemption, another outlaw, Jericho (Costas Mandylor), helps Thomas fake his own death with help from Cage’s Ben who is a photographer who shoots pictures of the fake hanging and body display.
But then Thomas’ past comes back to threaten the whole town as many people including Val (Graham) and his brother, Robert (Jeremy Kent Jackson), are now in town. And some of the townspeople might actually turn on Thomas and Jericho to collect the bounty themselves.
It could’ve been a good old Western if it didn’t look so cheap and fake. Redemption looks more like a tourist town where you’d find some actor pretending to be Wyatt Earp or Calamity Jane. Cage hams it up in annoying fashion and it’s one of the bottom barrel of his career performances where he’s trying so hard to do his own shtick which has worn thin in recent years. The action scenes make no sense. People just fire guns that point off camera. Then we cut to someone who is shot but we don’t know if they’re good or bad.
However, you can always tell when a movie is bad as it has a lot of people interacting with each other, but they’re never really in the same frame. They’re always talking with some crew member off screen reading the lines. Thus, they can’t the tone right with the scenes as the interactions seem off and unrealistic, especially since most are done in one or two takes. This is mostly done for budgetary reasons as it’s easy to have actors filmed all their scenes in a few days.
I understand people need a paycheck but goddamn, this movie is awful! I’m surprised it wasn’t nominated for more Razzies.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 