Edge

This was a great pilot. Tons of action, story was good and you really just want this guy to accomplish his goal.

I have been waiting since 2015, hoping that this would be a series. To my demise, Amazon has decided not to play it.

DAMN SHAME. This series could have brought some real attention to the dying Western series.

I saw this on Amazon Prime under the title EDGE THE LONER. It's the pilot episode of a would-be western TV series, directed by Shane Black and with a decidedly adult edge: this episode is chock-full of highly stylised combat and bloody battles, with fingers being blown off and bloody squib hits throughout. It makes a refreshing change to the usual sanitised stuff we see on TV.

The predictable storyline (about one man's revenge) is the worst thing about this show. However, it makes up for that with Black's strong direction and the well-choreographed nature of the frequent action. The final shoot-out is particularly well handled and enjoyable to watch. Cast-wise, Max Martini (PACIFIC RIM) has little chance to show charisma as the lead, but there are dependables like William Sadler and Ryan Kwanten playing the baddies, so it's not all bad. If this test pilot does get picked up for a full series it has plenty of potential for greatness.

I love westerns, even as shmaltzy as John Ford got, I still loved 'em. And I can even find things to like in the post-mod fun houses that Tarentino puts out.

But this show is barely watchable unless you watch it PIP with "Blazing Saddles" at the same time. The violence is at times innovative but often gratuitous and just vulgar, the female characters are undeveloped, and could we please just put away the strong silent protag with a mysterious past. Toshiro Mifune did it best which is why Leone stole it, but put it in a jar labelled "Eastwood" and forget it.

As with many modern westerns I wonder how they get made. The meeting scene near the end where landowners are getting orally served during the meeting, I think I get a clue what happened to fund this film.

Worst of all, I can't believe Shane Black and not his pre-teen grandson wrote this script. Bad bad puns, unnecessary dialogue, tedious villains. Cmon, Shane.

Was this a community service project to make up for parking tickets?

Why not make it available? Why would you waste the efforts of the crew? Is it because you care more about profits and less about art? Come on imdb/amazon, at least let me ask a faq... tease.

The message boards are gone. The community is lost. I just wanted to comment about the damn dog, but now the only way to do that is by leaving a review. That was the one gripe I had. A dog wouldn't do that with the dynamite. I know that was your idea, Dekker! Did anyone else feel the same? Please respond by writing a review since the message boards are gone.