O Retorno de John Henry

It's a slow drive that ends with a sudden violent car crash, like a good western should.

Kiefer Sutherland plays a soldier who waited far too long after the war to put down his guns, but something tragic hits him hard, and he tries to change his ways, with the help of his father, played by Sutherland's real life father, Donald Sutherland who plays a small town preacher who disapproved of the life his son once lead, and is threaten to get back into when a banker tries to buy out the town by any means necessary.

It's a very typical western story made timeless by it's focus on being character driven. I don't know if this is the first time Kiefer and Donald have done a movie together, but it must have help with the relationship between their characters.

But my favorite interaction was between Kiefer's John Henry and Michael Wincott's Dave Turner, who plays a rival gunslinger hired to influence town people off their land. The mutual respect these men showed for each other despite being on different sides of the coin was masterful, something I never seen done so well in a western.

Brian Cox was also in the movie playing the banker that hired Dave Turner. His role as James McCurdy is what tells us that this timeless Western was made in 2015, because he's all about taking people's homes who don't want to leave, and his level of cold heartiness is done brilliantly, reflected this day and era.

Though I'm sure she was trying to due some respectable acting in this film, Demi More is still some impressive eye candy.

The story is nothing out of the ordinary, but it's strengthen by a great set of actors doing their thing, lead by father and son team Sutherland. Good western.

Forsaken is directed by Jon Cassar and written by Brad Mirman. It stars Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, Brian Cox, Michael Wincott, Aaron Poole and Demi Moore. Music is by Jonathan Goldsmith and cinematography by Rene Ohashi.

There's a group of words bandied around for this one such as generic, cliché and formulaic, and most assuredly these can not be argued about. For this is very much an old style traditional Western, the plot featuring a retired gunslinger being pushed into action again - while he tries to reconcile with his estranged father - is a hard core staple of 1950s Westerns. But what is wrong with having a traditional Western in this day and age as long as it's produced with skill and grace? The answer for Western lovers is nothing at all.

This is a beautifully mounted picture, fronted by father and son Sutherland's - which adds heartfelt emotion to their scenes together - and boosted by gorgeous cinematography (making it a Blu-ray must), it's a genre piece of worth. Crucially it knows what it wants to be, it has no pretence to be anything other than a traditional Oater for lovers of such. The villains are sneery and scenery chewers - apart from Wincott who is a gentleman dandy type - and the good guy is wonderfully broody and reflective. Pacing is fine, the story has good drama and the finale excites as we hope it should.

In summary, nothing new here of course (except maybe Cox's out of place language!), so expectation of such would be foolhardy, but a smashing Western it be. 7/10

Its a story we've seen a hundred times. Guy comes into town, there's the troublemakers, love interest, and family accord.

It does differ from the typical storylines a bit. Clichés en masse but still pulls it off. There are some twists to this plot which don't follow the usual formula, and its nice to see it not completely riddled with certainty.

The cast is absolutely fantastic, no matter how big or small the roles. Some of my favourites in here: Michael Wincott, Demi Moore, Kiefer Sutherland, i mean what's not to like.

All in all, its a good old fashioned western which sets out to do as it does. A good watch.

Overall 6.5/10 Entertainment Value 7.5/10 - Anything with Michael Wincott automatically gets a star bump from me, but this film deserved it.

Like Kirk and Michael Douglas, Donald and Kiefer Sutherland waited far too long to team up for a film. Forsaken casts them as a frontier preacher and his gunfighter son who wants to give it up and settle down and work the family farm with dad. But there's a lot that has passed between them, a lot of misunderstanding and judgmental behavior ever since Kiefer went off to war and didn't return. He also left behind Demi Moore who up and married Christopher Rosamond and has a son with him.

This is an old fashioned western in its villains because back when all those poverty row studios were churning out B westerns the way Ford did Model Ts, the town banker in New Deal Days was always the villain. Brian Cox portrayed this villainous town banker with real relish, stopping short of twirling the mustache like Snidely Whiplash.

Donald played a three dimensional preacher with both faults and strengths and resisted the temptation to make his role a caricature. Kiefer Sutherland is a Jimmy Stewart like western hero who the locality depends on to be the strong man who stands up to the villains.

Like in John Wayne's classic El Dorado, Cox like villain Edward Asner in El Dorado doesn't use a gun, he 'hires it done'. Cox has a stable of gunfighters to enforce his will, but one of them is a professional played by Michael Wincott. Wincott and Sutherland have a mutual respect between professionals the way John Wayne had with Christopher George in El Dorado.

For those who like old fashioned westerns like me, Forsaken is your type of film.

If you're a fan of the genre, there isn't a single plot beat in FORSAKEN that you haven't seen many times over. In most instances, you'll probably be able to deduce what's going to happen next, or even what the next line is going to be.

That said, I still enjoyed the movie a good deal, primarily due to the beautiful locations, and Donald Sutherland's exceptional performance in what could have been a thankless, cut-out role. Kiefer, in full-on Kiefer mumbly mode fails to impress, but it's still interesting to see the father-son duo share the screen.

I'd give it a 6.5 if I could, but since I can't, I usually round up.