The Decoy

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.

Its about time somebody did a western with a bit of grit to it. I was at the premiere, and I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I will not go into discussion on form and function because we could argue this till the cows come home. But what I will say that its about time someone did a good western. This is America, is it not? Why are we so afraid to explore our rebellious side and enjoy characters that are stoic and bravely heroic. Can we take a break from problems in the middle east, political scandal, and the rest of the crap and remember that once, we had men (and women) who rode horses, shot guns and saved the day. We have some bad- A** roots, I personally for one would like to celebrate them. I believe America is ready for a western. I believe America is ready for this western. Give them some more time, money and distribution and these guys will take the country by storm. How do I know this, because I caught a glimpse of it in the theater. Was the film the most perfect piece ever created, no, was it thoroughly entertaining? I will respond with a resounding YES.

( And Entertainment is what makes money in the ENTERTAINMENT industry in case we all forgot )

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.

I've seen a preview of this Western. It is definitely a low budget effort - but made with a lot of heart. First off and worthy of immediate mention are the locations. This looks and feels like a Western. The acting is better than average at this level and I really liked the guy who played Martin. What perhaps could be improved with this picture is the work in post. The editing could be a big sharper, the sound mix and little richer and some more compositing and filtering could really bring to life some excellent shots. But what of the story? Actually the underlying plot is quite good. A mute man is framed as a 'decoy' to take the heat for a murder - all to cover up a bank robbery. His friend the sheriff must then escort him to the hanging. But the film is a little bit slow in getting going. I'd have preferred it if it had featured more of this journey and beefed up the conflict between this two friends / adversaries. Even if this meant we saw some of the preamble in flashback. All in all - I'll be checking out other films from these guys as this first feature shows promise and grit.

After reading the other reviews for this film I am of the opinion that the high markers are probably paid studio lackeys as the film I saw was absolutely dire, with wooden acting, lacklustre scripting and plodding predictable directing, one of the few plus points has to be the stunning scenery as this film features some stunning backdrops with great sweeping vistas and dramatic skies and wide open prairies, sadly when the most memorable thing in a film is the part featured behind the actors this has to be a warning sign as to the quality of the movie, all in all a thoroughly uninspiring addition to the western genre which even at the very reasonable price it can be obtained on DVD is best to avoid.