The Old Way

First off it is not possible to make a bad-looking movie in Montana, the state is too beautiful. The main reason I wanted to watch this movie is Nic Cage, while I don't like all his movies I like him as an actor, he always gives it 101% and he does it here.

The first scene shows us who he is, Nicolas Cage plays Colton Briggs, a notorious, emotionless gunslinger. And we see a number of killings early, in the street. One of the dead, shot in the forehead, has his young son as a witness and we sense that he will eventually grow up and seek revenge.

Flash forward 20 years, Briggs has settled down, he owns a store in town, he has a beautiful wife and a 12-yr-old daughter, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Brooke, and a small home on the prairie about a 30-minute walk into town. His guns have been in storage for many years.

Everything changes after a band of four outlaws visit his home while he and the daughter are in town. His rage resurfaces and the rest of the movie is a manhunt.

This isn't a novel story, similar old west stories have been told in movies a number of times. But the actors are good. The script doesn't have a real good feel to it, but taken as entertainment of the revenge kind it is worthwhile. The source of the movie's name isn't revealed until near the end, when one says "Let's settle this the old way, in the street with guns."

My wife and i watched it at home on DVD from our public library.

Cage has a way of dumbing down of a film which is fine to an extent but you can't help wondering if he was the best choice for the role.

I think there are much more believable actors who would have added a lot more credibility and realism to this film and it may have become a modern classic rather than a one off throw away novelty.

Young Ryan Kiera Armstrong is the real star here and judging by her standard of ability has a good future in acting as long as she keeps her wits about her. I can see why she was chosen for this part.

Overall not a terrible way to pass some time but not a film that you would watch more than once.

Stumbling upon the 2023 Western movie "The Old Way" by random chance here in 2023 and seeing that the movie had Nicolas Cage in the leading role, I have to say that I opted to sit down and watch it.

Usually I am not overly keen on Western, lest it be the good old classics with Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. But every now and again when I stumble upon a Western that seems to have potential to be entertaining, then I will sit down and watch it. And thus it seemed with "The Old Way", from writer Carl W. Lucas and director Brett Donowho.

The storyline in "The Old Way", was actually good. It was a pretty straight forward script and storyline, that had that classic Western feel to it. So writer Carl W. Lucas sure managed to pen down something good and entertaining for director Brett Donowho to bring to the screen.

"The Old Way" does have a good cast that include the likes of Nicolas Cage, Shiloh Fernandez, Clint Howard, Abraham Benrubi, Craig Branham, Boyd McCallister, Noah Le Gros, Corby Griesenbeck, and others. I will say that the cast ensemble in the movie definitely put on good performances and carried the movie quite well.

Something that definitely added to the overall of the movie was the atmosphere. They managed to make "The Old Way" look and feel like a proper Western movie, and I liked that.

My rating of "The Old Way" lands on a six out of ten stars. It is a movie well-worth watching, especially if you enjoy Westerns of the old classic formula.

I went to see this move because it had a 7.0 at the time. I don't know what you people are thinking. I even went on half-off night and still regret it. The little girl is the best actor out of the entire cast by far. Even Cage comes up short. For hardened criminals in the cowboy days, the bad guys look like frat boys dressed up for Halloween. Or, use an excellent face moisturizer from the mercantile. And any scene with them feels like you are watching a middle school theater performance. There are so many corny punch lines as well. From the first 5 minutes it was cringe and never got better. The story line was rushed and seemed like key scenes were cut. I hate to be negative but it's a bust. Movies such as True Grit and Open Range are on a far different level of plot, authenticity, and acting. This doesn't come close and felt like another low budget Netflix film where everyone did the absolute minimum. If you think this is going to be a film about raw vengeance like the trailer suggests, it isn't. I could go on but I have made my point.

This entire production felt like a high-school drama class level, budget and all. Cage basically is sleepwalking his paycheck, but little Ryan Kiera Armstrong steals the spotlight with her charisma and flair for acting. The writing was your typical seen-it-before predictable and cliched revenge Western offering up nothing new for this genre, that felt quickly and lazily written. Some of the dialogue was cheesy to the point of cringe. The directing was weak and lacked any urgency in almost every scene. Even the sets and settings felt cheap and unconvincing, and lacked any authentic Western feel. A little bit of dust and tumbleweed blowing through town would've gone a long way getting to that Western feel. Even the normally comfortable 95 min runtime felt longer with poor pacing and the underwhelming narrative. It's a generous 5/10 from me, all for the young Armstrong's impressive performance.