Blind Justice

This movie has a dark atmosphere, which attracted me in the beginning. There are some flashbacks that I feel slow the thing down too much, but otherwise the story is quite solid. I had not expected this movie, and was pleasantly surprised.

This movie was really very good. I like westerns as a rule but don't generally like newer ones. I bought this one because I really like Armand Assante. He didn't let me down in this movie. And neither did the movie. It's very different than any other western I've seen yet. They are some gross scenes and some very good action scenes. I liked that alot. I don't like wimpy westerns. Over all a very surprisingly good movie with a great cast including Elisabeth Shue and a small role by Jack Black. If you like westerns this is a good one to get.

Canaan (Armand Assante) is a mysterious gunfighter blinded during the Civil War. He's carrying a baby to a waiting adopted family. He runs into a gang led by Alacran (Robert Davi). He enters a border town with only one road out and cut off by the bandits. They are after a shipment of silver being transported by Sgt. Hastings (Adam Baldwin) and his men. Town leader Caroline (Elisabeth Shue) recruits the blind man to join in the fight for 200 lbs of silver.

This should be a fun campy spaghetti western. A blind gunfighter screams cheese. This movie has no style. Armand Assante is a great actor and he does his job here. Elisabeth Shue is not hard enough to be the town leader. She is a damsel in distress and a romantic partner thrown at Assante. This could be great but it is mostly boring.

The movie itself is not that great... it's an unimaginatively-conceived western that is not much more gritty or believable than an episode of "Gunsmoke". The premise is terrific, hearkening back to the plots of old Italian spaghetti westerns... a blind gunfighter carrying a newborn baby comes to a small town overrun by bad men and proceeds to shoot out with every bad guy within range. What makes this movie memorable for me, though, is a GREAT performance by Armand Assante as the blind Canaan. He transcends every other acting job in the movie... no one else seems either authentic or interesting. Assante, however, has done his homework and seems like he wouldn't be out of place at all in an old "Django" movie. Elisabeth Shue is pretty but totally unconvincing as a frontier femme who comes to the aid of Assante and the young baby girl. Every one else is a typical western cartoon... stuffy army officers, nasty bandits with thick accents, etc. (Jack Black appears at one point as an army sentry... which is a little more disconcerting now that he is famous for his more comedic roles.) Fortunately, whenever Assante is on screen he makes the movie work... even some of the ridiculous one-liners. "How do you like your eggs? Scrambled?" (said while clutching a bad guy's genitals).

Director Richard Spence has created a gem in Blind Justice.

Starring Armand Assante who has also been in other classic flicks, Chicago Overcoat 2009 and Federal Protection 2002.

Also starring Elisabeth Shue who has also been in other classic flicks, Piranha 3D 2010, Mysterious Skin 2004 and Leaving Las Vegas 1995.

Also starring Robert Davi who has also been in other classic flicks, Game of Death 2010, The Butcher 2009, No Contest 1995, Predator 2 1990, Maniac Cop 2 1990, Peacemaker 1990 and Die Hard 1988.

I enjoyed the shootouts.

If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic western flicks, Bad Company 1972, Barquero 1970, Dust, Sweat and Gunpowder 1972, Cut-Throats Nine 1972, Dances with Wolves 1990, Dead Man 1995, The Desperate Trail 1995, Duel at Diablo 1966, El Topo 1970, Samuel Fuller's Forty Guns 1957, Frank & Jesse 1995, Jeremiah Johnson 1972, Jonah Hex 2010, Lawman 1971, The Long Riders 1980, The Outlaw Josey Wales 1976, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid 1973, The Quick and the Dead 1995, The Return of a Man Called Horse 1976, Silverado 1985, Tears of the Black Tiger 2000, Tombstone 1993, Ulzana's Raid 1972, The Wild Bunch 1969, The Hunting Party 1971, Django Unchained 2012, Bone Tomahawk 2015, The Hateful Eight 2015, Dead in Tombstone 2013, The Salvation 2014, Outlaws and Angels 2016, The Dark Valley 2014, 3:10 to Yuma 2007, Seraphim Falls 2006, Brimstone 2016, The Last Outlaw 1993, Dollar for the Dead 1998, Winchester 73 1950, The Deadly Trackers 1973, Slow West 2015, Deadwood 2019 and Young Guns 1988.