A quick look online shows that the duel is a
popular topic for moviemakers, and has been brought to the forefront again in
the Broadway musical Hamilton, (about
Alexander Hamilton who died in a duel).
This rendition is a western, and could be classified as a tragedy in the
literary sense. It takes place in
the 1800’s, opening with a duel in Texas and ending in the same town with a
duel involving the son of the man killed 22 years before.
David Kingston (Hemsworth) is a Texas Ranger
sent by the governor to investigate an area where Mexican General Calderone
says his niece and nephew disappeared.
As a matter of fact, there have been many reports of Mexicans who have
gone missing from the same area.
For his safety, David is sent incognito with the story that he is headed
somewhere else. We can see a
complication right away when his wife Marisol (Braga) insists on going with
him. She is obviously Mexican, so
going to a town that is suspected of killing Mexicans seems more than
foolhardy, but she threatens to leave him otherwise, so he takes her along.
They are greeted in the town of Helena by a polite,
smooth talking Abraham (Harrelson), known as “The Preacher”, who keeps a tight
rein on the townsfolk. He gets
them settled in a lodging, makes an impromptu visit to Marisol, and makes David
sheriff. David quietly does his
sleuthing and of course—since this is a western—must prove his mettle with the
locals, particularly Abraham’s ne’er-do-well son Isaac (Cohen).
What David uncovers is major, and all the while
he is investigating he has to contend with the passive-aggressive Abraham who
creates a continual thread of ominous portents, aided by the open hostility of
Isaac and his two sidekicks.
Director Kieran Darcy-Smith is successful in
sustaining the aura of mystery and danger, and gives the viewer some
explanation as to how the characters fit together. But he and the writer Matt Cook are not the most experienced
in filmmaking, which shows up in questions about plot that remain
unresolved. For instance, Marisol
becomes mysteriously ill soon after The Preacher predicts her fever. After the ambiguous ending, we still
don’t know exactly what happened or how she fits in with the characters other
than David. On one occasion, she
seems to complain about it.
Another instance is David’s leaving his sick wife’s bedside and being
out of town for an extended period of time without Abraham, who seemed to
monitor him constantly, noticing.
Finally, at the end it’s not clear why the
governor took no action on Kingston’s findings. We never see David send a telegraph (which he was instructed
to do), and when General Calderon asks for the governor’s support in
investigating the site further, it was declined. Maybe he didn’t want to start another Mexican-American war.
Woody Harrelson knows creepy, and his
performance is superior in this role.
He is electric in any scene he is in. Hemsworth is very good, although not quite convincing as a
Texas Ranger. I was stunned to
discover that Isaac is played by the same Emory Cohen who is such a hit as
Eilis’ sweet American boyfriend in Brooklyn. He is as offensive here in his
character as he is appealing in Brooklyn.
This is a western that raises as many
questions about the plot as it answers.
