Shadowheart

The first thing I pay attention to in watching a movie is whether I care about the characters. I couldn't bring myself to care about these people, mostly because the writing and acting was not good enough. The feel of the whole thing was that it was amateurish. The story didn't flow in a way that felt real. Also, I don't like stories where there's not a good resolution or denouement, even if not a happy ending. This didn't leave me with the feeling of satisfaction. The theme seemed to be relentless evil without any real hope of the good guy winning out in the end. Without giving away the end, I'll just say that if it was meant to tie up the plot, it failed to work for me. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone.

This was probably the worst movie I have seen in many years. It went from the youngster starting out on his own and returning after the war to retrieve his past. He saves the Indian couple who later return to save him. He takes on the bully who killed his father. The bully takes everyone's land because the railroad is coming. He marries the heroine, she dies, and he seeks revenge. Guess who comes out on top in the end? What a terrible movie...no wonder it never made the theaters...nobody would pay to see it. (the music was good however). The acting was as predictable as the movie itself...Spider as the wicked henchman who didn't say anything but carried out his orders...Connor who was beaten and shot, yet recovers in a matter of hours (in the same time frame that Mary's brother never knew she had been killed) gets a horse and a gun and rides into town for revenge only to be challenged by the brother to get the marshal. Talk about clichés.

The overall topic and also the ending are excellent, but it is unfortunately spoiled by an awful directing and acting. Cast is so bad and the script doesn't bring much to enhance the bad actors performances, not convincing at all. It is a shame because this western had everything to be far far better than this stuff. I watched it dubbed in French and that doesn't help either. Supporting character could have brought something unusual, some subplots if you prefer, but again, the bad directing and cast smash the whole efforts. I caught this western from Amazon Prime; from time to time, you can get good material. Only a matter of luck.

The movie was great. The first comment was absolute trash and he needs to just enjoy movies for movies, and not "critique shots" and think that him and his child could write a better plot. It isn't always about the technical aspects. You are just looking for something to be wrong with every movie and can't enjoy a fictional tale. It's like getting upset with the Matrix because there's no way you could do any of that. So I guess what you are saying is that Tombstone sucked too eh? (No I bet you liked that one even though the good guys had a fraction of a chance. But I guess that's OK since it's Kilmer and Russell, right?) It is essentially the same story, which most westerns are. Good guy comes in to clean up town controlled by bad guys. Just GAD and learn to enjoy the stories for once.

Being a proud member of Amazon.com's Vine reviewers, I found myself pondering why some movies were available on occasion (usually ones I've never heard of), while others were not. I also consider myself a responsible reviewer; in other words, I'll read, sample, or watch whatever it is I get from Amazon's Vine program, regardless of what it looks like on the outside. Unfortunately, a pattern is emerging for The Vine program films. These are the seldom heard of ones I mentioned earlier. To give you an idea as to what types of films are being offered through The Vine, I'll use this one — SHADOWHEART — as an example.

First, let's take into consideration the fact that the film was produced by first-time film production company Desert Moon Pictures. Okay. So. Big deal. Now let's look at the main actor, Justin Ament. His film repertoire is not exactly stellar. He's had a lot of uncredited work (see "extra"), obviously trying to break into Hollywood's mainstream. He's written two screenplays: this one, and another for THE PATH OF EVIL. The Path of Evil, like Shadowheart, hasn't been lauded as very good cinema. But why? Well, the easy answer is that the films just aren't that well thought-out nor well put together. In Shadowheart, we see cliché after cliché, and old character after old character. It's a recycle mish-mash of seriously poor proportions. Think of just about every Italian western starring Clint Eastwood and you'll have seen every character in this film many times over.

The only exception to the poor characters is Angus Macfadyen (best known for his role as Robert the Bruce in BRAVEHEART) as the wicked — but still cliché stereotype — Will Tunney. He played (perhaps overplayed) the role of the ruthless and amoral killer and made it, at the very least, fun to watch.

Everything else in this story was completely predictable. When I saw the young protagonist with the young girl in the beginning, I knew what would befall them long before it actually happened. And when I saw the sheriff trying to take the dastardly Will Tunney to the next town for imprisonment and possible hanging, I knew they'd never make it there. And this list of obviousness goes on and on and on and on.

So, getting back to my original quandary: why are some films available on The Vine and others aren't. Well, it's becoming painfully obvious now. Those DVDs that can't sell are given away in hopes of finding a sympathetic audience. But I simply cannot sympathize with drivel such as this. I'll write my review and post it for all to condone or trash, but I simply cannot give this film a positive spin when there's simply none to be found.