Terror on the Prairie

I love westerns and wanted to love this one but, like the previous film Shut In, there are just far too many stupid choices and, in this case, bad shots, So many bullets fired, so few targets hit. Frustrating.

This was...very slow. Very very slow. Even by 1970's western standards, it's slow. It seems to be the trend now for westerns to move at a snail's pace. If you compare it to "The Power of the Dog", they're about even though this movie has some action sequences, they both dwell on things a lot longer than they should. In "The Power of the Dog" they tried to be profound, and though they didn't achieve that goal, this movie wasn't even trying to be profound.

The lighting was shockingly bad. About as bad as the acting. Sound design and set dec was fine. Directing was lackluster. (For example, there are some shots that get punched in on with an insert to make sure you don't forget a key piece of exposition...and I do always prefer exposition that is shown rather than said, but at least work it into the shot you're using and for God's sake, don't return to the same shot once it's done.)

I mean, I guess if it's on in the background while you do something else, it's fine. Please don't ever give Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone lines in a movie ever again though.

I wanted to give 10/10 so bad- love these people, but there was no family chemistry and it was too slow. It felt both over And under-acted at times. Do more, keep going, but this was a little bit of a let down.

Lemme just say, I love that Daily Wire is getting into entertainment. I've been a subscriber for over a year, and I'm not leaving any time soon. However, this movie is not good.

I'll start with a few positives. The movie looks pretty good, and I think the decision to go with no score was a good one. There are some exciting moments, but overall, the movie really failed to excite me.

Now the bad. The characters here are so paper thin, that I find it hard to really care how things turn out for them. The arcs are so generic and predictable, that they might as well not even be there. The villain is very cliché, riding around spitting intimidating Bible verses and scalping people. However, he is probably the best thing in the movie.

The acting is competent, but fails to sell me on anything deeper than surface level emotions like fear or anger. The plot drags on for way too long, considering the fact that nothing really happens. On top of this, Spoiler Alert (though not really), we are treated to another feel-good ending where everything turns out perfectly for the characters without having to sacrifice anything, which is so frustrating.

Watching this movie made me realize the pattern that is forming with DailyWire movies. They all follow "strong, independent" female characters who either have to rescue the men who are incompetent, or defeat the men who are evil. If I want the feminist messaging, I can go to Hollywood, they have plenty of that. This is supposed to be DailyWire, a company that stands for traditional values and against the wokeness of Hollywood.

If it were one or two movies from them, I wouldn't have a problem. Hell, movies like Alien that follow strong female protagonists are some of my favorites of all time. I just want some variety from DW, especially in an era where masculine man are increasingly rarer and under attack.

We are four movies in with DailyWire and they are yet to make a movie that is particularly interesting. Shut In is still the high water mark for them, but even that was only ok. So yeah, strong 4/10, not good.

If you expected Gina Carano or Matthias Hues to kick ass or Nick Searcy to act, you will be sorely disappointed. Instead you will get Carano as a mother of two sitting in a lone house waiting for her husband when a band of sadistic ex soldiers come and attempt to capture her. I don't know how military service was back then, but five armed men should have done the job in five minutes. Instead, they try to wiggle themselves into the house, trick the woman, wait her out, convince her, etc.

That's the entire film. It feels more like a really bad date than a western. And poor Hues. How the mighty have fallen...