Hostile Territory

First my review. I'm not exactly sure who this movie will appeal to. It is slow, boring, and historically inaccurate. As one review or put it, it is like a Hallmark movie. I got a real laugh out of the fact that they had integrated military units which did not occur in this country until 1948. Also some of the weapons and uniforms were off for the time period.

And now unrelated. I'm not sure if you noticed this but as of last week all IMDb reviews have to be 600 characters. So I guess this will be my last review since I do have a life outside of reviewing movies. If I want to read 600 character reviews, I will start reading the New York Times.

A bit slow & drawn out (1 h 34 min seems like 2 hrs) but not too bad, overall just OK.

Can add that the scenery & photograpy was good, lots of drones shots in filming the snowy landscape.

Wanted to give 5.5 out of 10.

I'll watch any Western movie. I absolutely love them. This has the feel of a poorly written and executed Spaghetti Western with the modern touch added. A little bit of research into the lexicon and dress of the period would have made it loads better. Using the wrong Native American tribes for the location and period is a big issue, which is easily corrected with a simple search. It just has the feel of trying to make a modern Clint Eastwood or John Wayne plot, but with half the effort, which says a lot, considering how low budget those typically were. However, it was refreshing to see a new aspect added, with the Orphan Train getting some needed recognition. The cinematography and musical score were great, contrasting the shoddy script and acting at times. The ending was pretty weak as well, making the movie feel rushed to conclude. In all, for a Western lover, it's your run of the mill, low budget fix. It could be loads better, but it could also be much, much worse.

I found this confusing as hell. Where did the family originally live? That was never established. Where was the father a POW? Never established. He is traveling from somewhere (never established) to Missouri. I did not realize that Missouri after the Civil War was still considered hostile Indian territory. It was civilized and a heavily battled over during the Civil War itself so from where have the sudden hostile tribes originated? It was all filmed in Colorado. This is why it didn't look like Missouri. I couldn't figure out where the mountains were coming from or what an earth was happening. This movie had so much potential. It was like it picked up halfway into the story but never explained what happened in the previous part. There have been a lot of orphan train books and movies and most are far better than this. I found this to be a great disappointment.

Good subject and story concept about historical events that are not covered in film much. However...none of the actors were believable or convincing. Subpar / underdeveloped acting and actors doomed this film from start to finish. Excellent cinematography made up for acting shortcomings.