With every review warning people away from this film, one would have to have some kind of masochistic streak to want to watch a film like this. However, my reasons are more to do with the fact that this used to air on cable rather frequently for whatever reason. However, I never saw the film through, only the last 15 minutes, and the last 15 minutes are quite a trip.
It's a film that sticks with you but not really for good reasons. However, the final 15 minutes -- if that's all you saw -- will leave you equally confused and intrigued. And so for years I have thought about this film because I had no idea what was going on. It was frequently advertised as "starring Val Kilmer", and who wouldn't want to see a Western starring Val Kilmer?
Well, I can thoroughly say that his is not a good film. But to be fair, the cinematography is not bad and the audio design is passable. The problem is that everything else is terrible. The acting is terrible. The editing is horrible. And it has some of the worst pacing in movie history.
The plot here is basically non-existent. That's why the IMDB description is so sparse. The whole conflict within the movie is also embarrassing, as it all transpires from a misunderstanding. And then devolves into a bloody mess for literally no good reason.
It all culminates to that finale I talked about at the start of the review. Is it worth watching for the final 15 minutes? Heck no. Is it worth watching for Val Kilmer? No, because he's not actually in it.
The movie tries to be non-linear at times, showing things in the past and then zipping back to the present, and then showing things in the future and then zipping back to the past, but none of it works. The dialogue is atrocious and none of the characters explain anything or have anything interesting to say.
There are no proper action sequences -- even the final 15 minutes isn't a proper action sequence, and how it resolves itself doesn't make a whole lot of sense and will leave you scratching your head as to what you just watched.
Also, Karel Rodan looks good as a gunslinger, but doesn't get to do much gunslinging, and doesn't say a word. It could have been a compelling character but the writer/director had no clue what to do with him. A real shame and a real waste for sure.
