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"The Lord does not believe in actions without consequences." The New Mexico territory in the late 1800's is full of danger. When Sarah, a young wife (Jones) encounters the local preacher (Isaacs) and a sheriff (Harris) who isn't totally sane. When she refuses the preacher's advances her life is forever changed. Now with the help of the sheriff she sets out for revenge, and you know what they say about a woman scorned. I am a huge Ed Harris fan and I like westerns but lately the genre has been in a huge nose dive so I wasn't sure what to expect from this. This is easily one of the better ones that have come out lately but it is still a little slow moving. 90% of the reason this is good is the cast. Harris is good in everything, Isaacs is the most disturbing preacher since Michael Parks played one in Red State. The gem of the movie though is January Jones. For once she isn't just the eye candy of the movie, she actually has a needed part and the fact that it is her that loses it and goes on a killing spree makes it that much more interesting. If you are a western fan this is one to watch. Don't expect something like Open Range though, this is more like Appaloosa or 3:10 To Yuma or for you real movie fiends out there, if you liked Seraphim Falls you will like this. Overall, started off slow but really picked up and by the end you are glad you watched it. One of the better westerns in the last few years. I give it a B.

January Jones plays the main lead in this and she is really great in this. Ed Harris also has a blast and the movie overall is a nice addition to the western genre. It has all the right ingredients (with added female nudity, which isn't something that is a given of course) and was obviously fun to shoot.

The movie itself which was playing at the Fantasy Filmfest in Germany when I watched it, is predictable because of the known story line (even without me saying where this is going, you'll see it coming from a thousand miles). But the fun you can have with it, is still there, especially if you have a soft spot for Western movies in general

SWEETWATER is a nicely-done noirish parody of the old spaghetti western. Plot-wise, it's rather predictable, without many big surprises, but it keeps your attention and incorporates steady humor without turning into a complete slapstick joke. Best of all are the very colorful cast of characters: Crazy charlatan cult leader; beautiful, now-married former prostitute who's out to settle down and lead a quiet, simple life; unstable yet nobly maverick sheriff; perverted clothier; and a whole bunch of sheep who contribute a great deal to the story (really, they do).

Intelligently simple entertainment--nothing to be taken too seriously. Great performances by Ed Harris (sheriff) and January Jones (former prostitute).

This movie might not be like the usual old school westerns but I surely enjoyed it. As an atheist I already hated the priest/prophet Josiah from the first minute I saw him. And him being a racist as well he was the perfect character to hate. Jason Isaacs puts down a good performance playing the villain prophet. Ed Harris as the lunatic sheriff Jackson is also great in his role. And so is January Jones as Sarah Ramírez, the former prostitute that goes on a killing spree as revenge. I thought the whole cast did a good job. The story was well written, started slowly but build up to a climax. Certainly one of the better westerns I have seen lately.

The plot: A psychotic preacher goes too far when he begins indiscriminately murdering innocent people. A manic sheriff and gun-toting ex-prostitute team up to stop him and his followers.

I liked this film, but it's really quite shallow. If you can enjoy a minimalist, high-concept revenge thriller, this is actually pretty enjoyable. Just don't look for anything more than violent action scenes, despicable villains, and violent anti-heroes who would make Clint Eastwood proud.

As I expected, Ed Harris is the highlight of this film. His crazy sheriff is unpredictable, darkly humorous, and fun. The little bits of back story that we were fed make him intriguing, but it's a bit unfortunate that they never capitalized on any of it. I thought that maybe there'd be plot twists and complicated alliances, like a Sergio Leone film, but I guess this isn't that kind of film. No, it's basically a beat-em-up video game where the hero kills all the villain's henchmen and then does a boss fight.

There are quite a few postmodern touches to the film that may annoy old-school Western fans. For one thing, this a modern revenge thriller that's been transposed into a Western setting. As such, I don't think this was really meant to appeal to fans of classic Westerns. Instead, it's going for the Quentin Tarantino crowd, though it could have used more style and quotable dialog. For a poor man's QT film, this is not bad, but I'd recommend the real thing instead.

I declare myself a lover of western movies. Of those of classic style, in which there are no surprises and the hero is clearly the hero, as dedicated to bourbon as he is to his gun; who takes the girl in extremis and has a very personal sense of justice and love. Westerns without surprises, I said, in which the good win and the bad die, be that as it may. But I confess my weakness for more or less experimental westerns. Sweetwater portrays fundamental themes known to all; the madness of religion and the eccentricity of the law. It does that through two singular characters, exaggerated, delirious, supposedly transcendental, totally overcooked. The script is very normal but it compensates this with other expressive resources, with scenes of fairly honest, extreme and suggestive poetry. A western filled with black humor and meaningless speech that deals with a harsh revenge, for once, at the hands of a woman. A little bit excessive movie, not suitable for anyone. A particular portrait of the madness of the Far West. A remarkable, risky but inspiring western.

This dull yet extremely violent mythological western takes us to a middle-of-nowhere version of 1880s New Mexico: space and locale aren't very clearly established. Out in the desert, a pompous cleric-- who more than that is power-hungry and totally mad and evil -- whose local followers call him "Prophet Josiah" (busy and versatile English actor Jason Isaacs) comes upon two young men camping on what he says is his (and therefore God's) land. They are roasting a sheep, which he also says is his. Though they say they're connected to the governor of the state, he stabs one to death and shoots the other as he attempts to flee. This is how things go in this movie, interlaced with scenes of forced sex and verbal provocation. Like all the killings that are to follow, these are shocking, but leave us unmoved. This film is stylish, but pointless.

Later a similar fate befalls a Mexican-born farmer, Miguel Ramírez (Eduardo Noriega) whom Josiah, a thoroughgoing racist, also does not like, and therefore kills. Miguel's reformed prostitute wife Sarah (January Jones) comes looking for her husband, and eventually will realize Josiah's guilt but will kill not only eventually him, but a venial voyeur shopkeeper and various minions of Josiah. All this has been complicated early on by the arrival of the provocative, canny, also rather mad Sheriff Jackson (Ed Harris with long white locks and a long pale blue coat with plaid clown paints). In the end, there is a series of killings by Sarah mostly, with a traditional shootout, but not much suspense. Might it be that New Zealander Andrew McKenzie, whose story is the starting point, was under the sway of Cormac McCarthy's novels? The adapted screenplay is by the Marin County, California twins, Logan and Noah Miller, who worked with Ed Harris before on their debut film Touching Home, but Logan is listed as the sole director this time around.

Ed Harris has fun with his role, enjoying Prophet Josiah's good food and then stabbing his nice mahogany dining room table with his own big murderous knife to illustrate his suspicion that Josiah has killed the two young men; and every so often doing a sprightly dance that is quite nutty and belies the age suggested by his grizzled beard and silvery locks. January Jones, Don Draper's prim, then adulterous, wife in the Sixties advertising TV series Mad Men, brings a certain cool dignity to her role, but she seems too pure to have been a whore, and her wrath hath not enough fury in it.

In France where this was presented under the title Shériff Jackson, the theatrical release was "Forbidden to under 12 years." Figaroscope, whose critic liked it a lot (it got an overall Allociné press rating of 3.0), said it "refers as much to Tarantino as to Peckinpah." Actually despite some mildly ornate dialogue this lacks any of the verbal excitement or wit of Tarantino, the terror and suspense of Peckinpah, or the apocalyptic grandeur of Cormac McCarthy. Furthermore the individual scenes don't seem to link together very well and hence not much narrative drive develops. The abrupt ending makes little sense, and leaves one unsatisfied. Some moments are exploitative or vulgar. Prophet Josiah uses women sexually right and left; some scenes suggest the filmmakers are thinking of There Will Be Blood. In fact there are many influences, none integrated fully.

Sweetwater, 95 mins., debuted at Sundance Jan. 2013 and in the summer was released on DVD in the UK and Japan. Theatrical release in the US and France 9 Oct. and the US 11 Oct. It has done less well with US than French critics: Metacritic rating: 38. Todd McCarthy's assessment (no relation to Cormac) for Hollywood Reporter: "The Old West is portrayed as a venal loony bin in Sweetwater, a handsomely designed, occasionally funny but ultimately empty female vengeance yarn." Bill Graham's lead on twitch also rings true: "Sweetwater isn't easy to enjoy. For such a spare and tight film, there seems to be a lot of dead air. " He attributes that to a failure to integrate separate narrative lines. Screened for this review at UGC Odéon, Paris.

This is how we like our Westerns in Europe!

Lotsa guns, lotsa dead men and a prostitute who wins! Yeah baby, give it to us!

The only problem is that we kinda do our own fights here in Europe with many more dead people, we kinda like to copy all that 45 caliber. Yumm!

What do you say about film like that, then excellent!

Acting very very good! Scenery very very good!

Costumography very very good!

All in all a helluva Western!

Pull that 45!

Many times over! ;)

In 19th Century New Mexico Miguel Ramirez gets in to a feud with religious zealot Josiah . When Miguel fails to return to his home his wife Sarah suspects that Josiah may be behind her husbands disappearance

This went straight to DVD in Europe which is somewhat surprising because it does contain relatively well known names in Harris , Isaacs and Jones . That said reading the comments on this page you are struck as to the number of comments that describe the film as being " funny " but I should qualify this by saying it is funny in the same way as Al Swearengen is funny in DEADWOOD because this is black comedy at its most brutal and uncompromising along with role reversal revenge fantasy and you can see why it might have been a difficult film to market

It's not a very well paced film and some scenes seem to go on for too long and the fact that there's not a lot of incidental music to these scenes means they seem longer than they really are . That said it's probably the effect the director wants because SWEET VENGEANCE concerns it self with mood rather than narrative and is a very moody revenge thriller . One does notice that the cinematography is rather murky and fails to make the most of the New Mexico landscape , especially when you get the instinctive feeling that there's a subtext of man - or more specifically woman - versus nature going on there somewhere but this aspect comes over slightly confused and isn't as well developed as it could have been . Regardless of that if you enjoyed DEADWOOD then you might just enjoy this blackly comical violent Western

A really good film and not your average western by a long shot. I'd put it in the same class as Unforgiven and Seraphim Falls

Great acting all round but particularly by January Jones, Ed Harris (brilliant !) and Jason Isaacs (evil !). Good script and direction too.

All in all a winner !!

Long-haired religious nut (Jason Isaacs) kills the husband of former prostitute-turned-farmer (January Jones). Violent revenge western dressed up with quirky types and some fairly weak attempts at profundity. Cast is solid with Ed Harris in particular having a good time with his role. However, it's one of those movies where everybody acts like characters instead of people. A little bit of that goes a long way. January Jones has a topless scene so boob lovers can check her off their list. It's all pretty by-the-numbers and there are no real surprises. Harris is the best part. I can't really recommend it but if you are forced to watch it, it won't make your eyes burn.

A homesteading couple have the misfortune of living near a questionable religious leader (Jason Isaacs) and his compound. The wife (January Jones) soon finds herself facing a great challenge while an unusual-but-righteous lawman (Ed Harris) takes over the Sheriff duties of the nearby town.

"Sweetwater" (2013) is reminiscent of three 70's Westerns: It features the desperate loneliness and vast landscapes of "Bad Company," the ugly side of the Old West of "The Great Minnesota Northfield Raid," and the quirky tone of "The Missouri Breaks," not to mention the eccentric-but-bold protagonist of the latter film. A couple of more modern Westerns also come mind: "South of Heaven, West of Hell" and "The Proposition."

This is better than a couple of those, but not as good as the top ones. Still, if you like any of 'em, you'll probably appreciate "Sweetwater." It features a love-to-hate villain in the manner of "Rob Roy" and "Inglourious Basterds."

A viewer criticized the protagonist, Sarah, for being a prostitute, yet this isn't true. She had totally turned from her former lifestyle, which she was misled into by her mother. She's actually a loving wife of her humble husband (Eduardo Noriega).

This same critic lamented the depiction of "evil Christians," but they obviously aren't actual disciples of Christ. To explain, the Lord plainly instructed us to "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them... A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them... Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (from Matthew 7:15-23).

So, the 'Prophet' in the movie isn't a real believer, but rather a false prophet. This can be observed near the end when he shoots a sheep for no reason, which symbolizes that he doesn't care about the "sheep" of the Church and actively destroys them. It's also relevant that the film implies he was a Mormon, as opposed to a strictly biblical believer, since he hailed from Utah and left several wives behind there.

Unfortunately, the flick doesn't provide a counterbalance to Josiah, such as the way "The Mist" used Amanda (Laurie Holden) to offset the Pharisaical Mrs. Carmody (Gay Harden).

It runs 1 hour, 34 minutes, and was shot at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe as well as Abiquiu, which is a 65 miles drive north of the ranch in north-central New Mexico.

GRADE: B.

Cinematography was great, and the acting was excellent, but it is so difficult to write an interesting and original screenplay. It is much easier to have a simple plot of evil and good, where first the evil kill the good, and then the revenge of the good killing the evil. I lost track of the body count (maybe 14 murders) but after the first 3 or 4 it just got to be mind numbing.

"True Grit" had a similar feel, and also lots of tension, (as well as a bunch of dead bodies) but that was a much more nuanced and interesting story.

I would avoid this movie.

A corrupt preacher who doesn't mind swearing but ends up using the Lord to use others. Rape, murder, stealing, etc = in this movies it's more or less a Cult only his daughter escapes. It cuts abruptly and yeah its R for a reason. I'm not sure I'd call it Graphic Nudity , since it shows just the above. And Some get PG-13 , but it's possible it's the other guy shot up his. (nevermind. ) but Ed has to get it out someway. (bullet ) Which is about as violent gory it gets. So Unforgiven is much worse in that area. That's also a classic.... I rather like this one compared to Appaloosa. Which was okay but the main thing was. This one is unique. Can't find too many westerns that are almost good. Quality is okay , more entertainment to me.

Quality: 7/10 for the rather short ending (hey Amy is in this ... Hadn't seen her in a movie I have watched since Field of Dreams. ) Seen more of Gaby than Amy... Entertainment: 9/10 Re-Playable: 8/10.

Just picture that, burning hundred dollar bills. That sick feeling of something valuable completely wasted. That's the feeling you'll have watching some great actors slog through this truly embarrassing mess of a film. The hack script is a museum of heinous clichés and stereotypes. The actors do their best to salvage the horrendous script with over-the-top, scenery chewing performances, but the result is just ludicrous.

Trying to see positives, Ed Harris gives a good effort (he was one of the producers) and our hero husband and wife have some hints of chemistry. But our painfully cartoonish antagonist, Josiah, just ruins the whole film. Again, not for lack of effort from Jason Isaacs, but from the godawful script.

To be fair, there are some terrible films that still have some charm or appeal that makes them enjoyable. This not one of them.

when you watched this film. there were many gibberish mambo-jumbo religious crappy monologue or crazy enough talk-to-himself murmurings. and the directing was also quite weird as the film itself. there was an usual cunning vicious and violent religious bully who thought all the vast land was his lord and his own property. he committed murder after murder under the name and excuse of the lord and at the same time whenever he reached the climax when he screwed his female followers, he also praised the lord for his ultimate pleasure(guess why all the men and women would cry out in unison 'oh, my god, oh my god' is indeed a Christian mantra during intercourse or love-making?)

this is a very weird movie, an out-of-the-box very unconventional western, at times funny and ruthless, sometimes clueless and ridiculous. but what made this film above the cheap low budget western genre B movies was 1) most of the actors did great jobs and performed so well that didn't give you a cheap feeling of the average tasteless low budget and disgusting modern day western B movies; 2) the great cinematography of the camera, the wide angle wildness of the landscape, the beautiful light setting control. just by watching the glamorous camera works would worth the money and earned at least 8 stars; 3) although the screenplay was a bit over the top ridiculous, but still quite watchable, good enough to anchor your fat buttocks firmly on the seat to the end. again, a weird mindless clueless absurdity sometimes is not a bad idea.