Buckskin

This film begins somewhere in Texas with a group of fur trappers being ambushed by a tribe of hostile Indians in the mysterious Buckskin Woods. Needless to say, this news doesn't sit well with one of the leaders of the Southwestern Fur Company named "Captain Coleman" (Robert Keith) who, rather strangely, seems more concerned about the loss of the pelts that were being brought back than about the men employed by him. That changes, however, when he is told that his grandson "Levi Coleman" (Blaze Freeman) was with those group of men and his body has not been accounted for yet. To that effect, he immediately sends for a former trapper named "Wesley Porter" (Tom Zembrod) and offers a bounty of $100 to him if he can bring his grandson back alive. Naturally, having recently experienced a traumatic episode while venturing in those same woods, Porter is somewhat reluctant to accept this new mission. To that effect, his wife "Cora Porter" (Tiffany McDonald) is also concerned and, to possibly dissuade him from going, urges him to seek out a Pawnee "Fortune Teller" (played by Giovannie Cruz) for advice. Yet, even after the fortune teller tells him that he will not return from his journey, his desire for the bounty overrides everything else and he sets off anyway. What he doesn't realize, however, is that hostile Indians aren't the only formidable enemy he must soon face. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film started off well enough but it soon got bogged down when it crossed over into mystical or philosophical territory. To put it mildly, neither the director (Brett Bentman), the writers or the actors were capable of pulling it off on their own. In short, I was not at all impressed with this movie and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

The best part of this movie is the movie cover. Don't waste your time watching it. Worst display of acting I have ever watched.

Right, well I was lured in to watching the 2021 movie "Buckskin" from the movie's cover/poster, as it definitely had something interesting appeal. And it seemed like this could be a western with a very different approach to the genre.

So of course I sat down to watch the movie, despite never ever having heard about it prior to getting to sit down and watch it.

Well, writer and director Brett Bentman definitely did deliver an unorthodox Western here with the movie "Buckskin". Just a shame that it wasn't a change in the Western genre that was for the better. Nay, while "Buckskin" does differ from the archetypical blueprint you see lots of Western movie follow, then it wasn't a wholehearted movie.

The storyline told here was just too mundane and didn't really have enough contents to it to support a feature length movie. Sure, there were aspects to the storyline that were interesting enough, but they just were washed away amidst all the mediocrity and slow pacing of the rest of the movie.

I must admit that I was expecting a bit more action, gun fights and the typical stuff you see in Western movies. But no, that was not what writer and director Brett Bentman had in mind for "Buckskin". Instead we get to follow a tracker venture into these apparently forbidden forest in search for some people. Yeah, and that was essentially the heart of the story. It was so incredibly boring and slow paced to watch that one character mill about in a light forest that definitely had no foreboding or ominous feel to it.

Now, I am not familiar with lead actor Tom Zembrod (playing Wesley Porter), but he actually did an okay job with his performance, despite of having virtually nothing to work with in terms of a properly entertaining or interesting script.

I had hoped that "Buckskin" would prove to be a different Western movie, which it also actually was, but not in the good way, sadly so.

While I managed to sit through the entire ordeal, and yes "Buckskin" was an ordeal, then I can't claim that I was particularly entertained nor enjoying the movie all that much.

If you enjoy a good Western movie, don't waste your time, money or effort on the 2021 movie "Buckskin" from writer and director Brett Bentman.

My rating of "Buckskin" lands on a rather generous three out of ten stars.

Watched this film tonight, the script and filming were alright but the setting was more town park than wilderness, some of the acting (not all) was amateurish and dreadful...... Maybe lack of proper funding can explain some of the faults, it is no "Bone Tomahawk" or."Revenant" and not even in the same universe of such great, modern, classic westerns as "Dances with Wolves", "Open Range", or the "Unforgiven".

It reminded me more of an episode of some tv western series from the 60's or 70's in its production values than a film.

Saying that I still watched it to the end and the end did surprise me ......

Well, I am not quite halfway through this. So far, I have witnessed an Indian carrying a recurve bow and an experienced outdoorsman eat poison berries. It is pretty bad.