The Decoy

I wrote a review of this right after it came out, but too late to beat, at the time, the two people hired by the directors mom to call it an Oscar effort. Where did it go? Hmmmmm, anyway studio lackeys here it is again. This is tripe. It is done by a bunch of nobody's with almost no money and even less talent. If I was Tara, Justin's wife, I would have flogged him for not letting me star in his stupid attempt at a motion picture. She probably did not want to ruin her chances elsewhere, because if you go down the list of "stars" in this rubbish, they never worked again. The story, music, actors (term used loosely), everything just makes you want to hurl. I have never seen a bigger waste of time or money. Thank goodness it only cost me a dollar at the local rental store. Did I watch it all? No, after the ridiculous killing of the miner that nobody could figure out, and then some really poor acting, I showed my player mercy and allowed it to spit that sht out. Even graded on a curve this tripe gets something below an F.

When his in-laws are viciously murdered by a gang of thugs, a young deputy is ordered to escort his mute friend, forced to take the rap by the gang, to Tucson for trial and ending up having to face the real killers along the way.

The Decoy is a real-life decoy sent to video stores to lure you away from better films! It's talky, illogical, slow, and ultimately very boring.

There's some good costumes, sets, and photography but nothing else is good about this vanity project from writer/director/producer/star Justin Kreinbrink, who apparently had too much money on his hands.

They used to make westerns like this, that were under an hour long. Trim this of about half it's length and you might have something watchable.

Orphaned at a young age, "Martin Lowery" (Kevin Market) is taken in by a married couple and raised as one of their own. And even though he is mute, as he grows older and becomes a man, Martin becomes one of the most likeable people in his small town because he is so kind and meek. The townspeople turn on him, however, when he becomes the prime suspect in the murder of those same two people who initially treated him with such kindness. This includes a deputy by the name of "John Cooper" (Justin Kreinbrink) who is not only in love with the daughter of the two people Martin supposedly murdered but was also Martin's best friend. So, when Deputy Cooper is ordered to personally escort Martin to Tucson to be tried and hung, he struggles with the decision to simply kill him along the way instead. But what nobody realizes, however, is that Martin knows who the actual murderers really are but refuses to disclose that information--and the killers are not willing to have either Deputy Cooper or Martin make it to Tucson alive. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this low-budget film started off relatively well but the overall reason for Martin to keep everything secret was a bit of a stretch considering that he had plenty of opportunities set things right with little danger to anyone but the real murderers. Likewise, the ending was a bit too convenient as well. In any case, while I don't consider this film to be a complete waste of time, the low-budget aspects were much too obvious, and I have rated this project accordingly. Below average.

THE DECOY is one of those independent productions, made by obvious newcomers, but it doesn't have all the usual flaws that sink most such films. It has a definite story, it has adequate acting, the photography is very good, the hero and the bad guy are both formidable men, and the background music isn't overdone. This is a DVD New Release, so people will be looking here to see if it's worthwhile. I don't know where all the 10's come from, as there's no way this film is that good --- even if you're the filmmaker's mother.

The last film we saw at a theater was Warner's trashing of J K Rawlings much-loved and excellent book, Order of the Phoenix. In comparing THE DECOY with PHOENIX, consider that PHOENIX (as made by Warners) had no story, certainly no acting was allowed by the director, the photography was dreadful, and the wall-of-sound overbearing musical score was just a mess. I rated Phoenix a "1" because the scale doesn't go any lower. THE DECOY is 4 times better -- in all regards.

If you have the opportunity, give THE DECOY a chance. Remember, this isn't "Decoy 3 -- the Shootout" or any such nonsense. It's original. If your expectations aren't overblown by the foolish "10" scores here, you might just enjoy the film on its own terms.

After having watched The Decoy with its cast of absolutely no one you will recognize at all, I'm still wondering about what I looked at. Justin Kreinbrink who both directed and starred in The Decoy should have gotten himself a far more coherent story.

Some nasty outlaws shoot a miner and take over his mine for no particular reason other than their need for a headquarters. But aside from their usual crimes of outlawry, someone who has a reason for wanting to kill the town banker hires these guys to kill him and his wife. Their daughter happens to be married to Kreinbrink who is a deputy sheriff.

The patsy they decide to frame is a deaf mute foster son of the banker. The man is mute, but not stupid he won't write out any denial.

Justin, if someone gives you another crack at a western, make it one the audience will not be scratching its collective head after viewing.