À Maneira Antiga

A nice throwback to my favourite genre of movie...the western.

I would love to see a spree of good quality westerns hit the big screen, with The Old Way being much better than most of the westerns released over the last few years.

Cage is Cage except with a little bit more, you can see he's enjoying playing the gunslinger role. The kid, Ryan, gives one of the better child actor performances I've seen, underplaying the sociopath role nicely.

A few more gunfights would have added to the fun but otherwise there was enough to ge my western juices flowing.

Would definiately recommend especially for western fans but don't start comparing it to Josey Wales or The Searchers for example :)

Finally the world is treated to a Nicolas Cage western. It is full of clichés and follows the typical western tropes yet is always engaging.

This may be billed as Nic Cage's first western however Ryan Kiera Armstrong runs off with the full movie. She is exceptional as a Mattie Ross type character who seeks revenge for a loved one. Her chemistry with Cage saves the movie from mediocrity.

There are a few good supporting characters with Noah Le Gros making a decent enough villian (despite not convincing entirely) and Clint Howard playing Eustice, a prophet of doom character, straight out of The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre.

You watch The Old Way and go 'well that's from that movie and from that western' but The Old Way has enough charm (especially in Armstrong) to get it over the line.

I was going to review this film positively, and say " Cage occasionally makes a decent film, and this is one of those times."...but then I read the other reviews!

Wow, was I surprised.

I hesitated just for a moment, and decided to soldier on with my own opinion.

I generally agree with most of the reviewers around here, but in this case, I have to go against the largely negative opinion of this film.

No, its not Eastwood's Unforgiven, or any of the other great Westerns.

But, its got its moments, I liked the story flow, and Cage didn't "over-Cage".

I think, if you're into Westerns, its definitely worth a look.

If you like Nick Cage, its worth a look.

Maybe don't look for movie magic...each cage film needs to be judged on its own merits and not against other Cage films (good or bad).

I went to see this move because it had a 7.0 at the time. I don't know what you people are thinking. I even went on half-off night and still regret it. The little girl is the best actor out of the entire cast by far. Even Cage comes up short. For hardened criminals in the cowboy days, the bad guys look like frat boys dressed up for Halloween. Or, use an excellent face moisturizer from the mercantile. And any scene with them feels like you are watching a middle school theater performance. There are so many corny punch lines as well. From the first 5 minutes it was cringe and never got better. The story line was rushed and seemed like key scenes were cut. I hate to be negative but it's a bust. Movies such as True Grit and Open Range are on a far different level of plot, authenticity, and acting. This doesn't come close and felt like another low budget Netflix film where everyone did the absolute minimum. If you think this is going to be a film about raw vengeance like the trailer suggests, it isn't. I could go on but I have made my point.

First off it is not possible to make a bad-looking movie in Montana, the state is too beautiful. The main reason I wanted to watch this movie is Nic Cage, while I don't like all his movies I like him as an actor, he always gives it 101% and he does it here.

The first scene shows us who he is, Nicolas Cage plays Colton Briggs, a notorious, emotionless gunslinger. And we see a number of killings early, in the street. One of the dead, shot in the forehead, has his young son as a witness and we sense that he will eventually grow up and seek revenge.

Flash forward 20 years, Briggs has settled down, he owns a store in town, he has a beautiful wife and a 12-yr-old daughter, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Brooke, and a small home on the prairie about a 30-minute walk into town. His guns have been in storage for many years.

Everything changes after a band of four outlaws visit his home while he and the daughter are in town. His rage resurfaces and the rest of the movie is a manhunt.

This isn't a novel story, similar old west stories have been told in movies a number of times. But the actors are good. The script doesn't have a real good feel to it, but taken as entertainment of the revenge kind it is worthwhile. The source of the movie's name isn't revealed until near the end, when one says "Let's settle this the old way, in the street with guns."

My wife and i watched it at home on DVD from our public library.