Blackthorn (Gil, 2011)
As a man who has fallen in love with westerns over the last couple of years, this movie helped prove to me that I’m not just a sucker for the genre. Westerns can still be as average as any other film if not done right, and Blackthorn is a perfect example of that. Outside of being rich in cinematography, it offers nothing. This is an unfocused ‘what if’ tale of Butch Cassidy had he lived past the Bolivia shootout. It begins well as a poetic observation of a lonely and secluded old man, but not long after it abandons that approach for an unfocused barrage of several different and unrelated plot lines, and poorly used flashbacks. None of this offered much insight into Cassidy and who he had become. The film is then punctuated by a small twist which leads to laughable re-watches of previous scenes while Cassidy looks on in anguish at the revelation of what he now knows to be misdeeds. Oh the horror. But check out how pretty this was. 6.25/10
