Gallow Walkers

Interesting Weird West film (i.e. western horror mash-up) had potential, but instead becomes laughably bad. Wesley Snipes plays a cursed gunman who's victims come back as the undead. Snipes is solid as the strong silent gunslinger (basically Blade in a duster), and at times the film has strong visuals, with bright incongruous colors that echo Jodorowsky's "El Topo," so I'll give the filmmakers credit for trying to do something original, but overall this attempt at a genre mash-up comes off as unintentionally laughable. While this film wanted to be "Into the Badlands" it ended up being closer to the "Wild Wild West" movie remake. Overall, this film is only for hardcore Snipes fans. Patrick Bergin and professional wrestler Diamond Dallas Page also appear in this disappointment. FUN FACT! "Gallowswalkers" was originally set to be filmed back in 2005 as "The Wretched" with Chow Yun-Fat in the lead!

So many extremely harsh reviews.... I'm tempted to rate it a 10 just to try and offset some of the bad but I won't. I will go ahead and rate it as I feel it deserves. It is a simple plot when stripped to the core, however the angle they take and the creative way they give it a supernatural twist made it interesting enough to watch.

So many reviewers pick it to the bone critically for not being mind blowing detail/story wise. I think that's harsh. It was a fun little movie that is plenty enjoyable if one doesn't think to hard on it... Just taken as it is I actually liked it more than I thought I would. I have seen it around but never bothered to watch it due to all the negative reviews.

It was a friend of mine that told me I should give it a chance as he thought it was a good little watch and he is rather particularl on what he likes. He and I have very different acceptable base criteria for movies and he will not watch half the things I think are decent movies. To put it short, he only likes things with lots of action and/or really good CGI. but even he said I should give this one a shot so I did. Is it unforgettable? No.... However it was entertaining enough and better than I thought it would be.

It seemed like they weren't really sure what it was.

Some things that may make you LOL in this dire bore-fest:

I laughed so hard when that well bucket was just sat on ground level, and when he dropped it back in the well, it sounded like it fell on to some metal on the ground! Really, really atrocious filming in that scene. Were they all high or something when making this?

The 'bad' guy doing a 'muhahahahaaa' on the gallows scene was just hilarious.

And what was with that cave thing about, holy crap! Was the entire scene just removed?

The actors delivered the tired script straight and awkwardly like some kind of cheap SciFi channel TV movie. They all appeared somewhat self aware and miserable. Cringe making at times, Snipes does his best not to laugh in places it feels, although he's good at the Blade poses as usual.

And don't me started on the music, trying to be all Spaghetti Western from the 1960's, but cheesing it up really badly in places. But to be honest the music was the best thing about the film! Which says a lot.

It has decent gore effects, surprisingly, and I guess it was memorable for some reason, perhaps all the bad wigs and head pieces made it memorable. Not in a good way though.

I honestly felt sorry for the editor of this, but it got into such a mess anyway. I suspect too many hands (guys in suits) got involved in the final cut.

Sorry it's not a proper review like review, but it really wasn't worth caring for. Avoid. Unless, no, just avoid.

I watched this movie without reading any reviews for it, thankfully, as most are really harsh, most rating it as a 1. The images and camera shots are amazing and definitely made the movie more enjoyable than the plot, as well as the end credit images were superb. The plot is interesting, though not properly explained at points, as well as not addressing some key issues throughout the movie. Without Wesley Snipes, this movie would have been worse, and that's saying something. The camera kept focusing on him when he makes one word/sentence responses for way too long. The supporting cast were not written in well, and at times seemed out of place, appearing at random moments without any cause.

The action scenes are good, though the close ups can be disjointing for the viewer during fast paced scenes. The flashback scenes helped to reveal the plot throughout the movie, but, the randomness of scenes and the transitional points were just irritating.

The budget was about 17 million, so they might make it back, but this movie is only for those who can sit through 90 minutes of confusing scenes with little actual thought. I would rate it a 5 because I did enjoy it. The racial and gender presentations were a bit questionable and does try to identify their key audience pretty well (however narrow it will be). To anyone planning on watching it, skip it, unless you're looking for basic action and a basic storyline.

Synopsis: In an arid wasteland created by too many lacklustre Hollywood mash-ups, critics think they've put the final stake in Wesley Snipe's career, but surprisingly it returns from the dead and feasts on spaghetti using Leone and Joderowsky's silver spoon.

Verdict: Ambitious, imaginative and visually impressive film that warrants obvious comparison (Leone), but seems more indebted to El Topo's art direction and non-linear, Gothic, psychedelic spaghetti westerns like Matalo! and Django Kill, if You Live, Shoot! Personally, I enjoy this sort of thing, but I can see why many do not; it is brazenly uncommercial and unconventional (a brave choice at this point in Snipe's career decline), and that's part of its appeal.

Several reviews have complained about the incoherent (or completely lacking) plot, but being a fan of spaghetti westerns, I've become accustomed to going along with the film's visuals - like following a good jazz number. I found the plot to be simplistic and classic western: man seeks revenge, flashbacks ensue, he gets revenge and - here's the twist - the people he kills come back from the grave ... so man seeks young apprentice to help him kill them once again.

To some degree, I agree with the negative reviews. I did find it a frustrating and uneven watch. I couldn't help but think that a much better film was possible. Several scenes are cut in a manner that implies not enough footage was shot (made all the more infuriating by the fact that most of the film is extremely well photographed, making excellent use of the Namibian locations). There's also some reliance on rather cheap looking CGI - although the removal of heads and spinal columns was quite impressive. The voice-over narration - always problematic - sounds like a bad advert for men's cologne. The narration is made even worse by two narrators, possibly a necessity stemming from Snipe's three-year prison sentence in 2010 for failure to file income tax returns (Gallowwalkers was shot just before Snipes went to prison).

The music, so important to any spaghetti western, is also disappointing, veering from more appropriate classical to some sort of alt-rock. Lastly, the climatic journey into the "spirit world" looks like it was shot in an underground parking lot. After that, an incongruous animated credit sequence rolls by, suggesting Gallowwalkers wants to position itself with the postmodern, ironic works of Rodriguez and Tarantino. Clearly, it should have remained true to its spaghetti western DNA.