Outlaw Johnny Black

I remember well when Michael Jai White announced this movie trough crowd funding a few years ago. I must be one of the only guys who never saw Black Dynamite, likely because its not a style i usually have a lot of interest in, but peoples always praise it so at one point ill watch it. Personally im a fan of MJW because of movies like Blood and Bone, Never Back Down and Triple Threat. After Scott Adkins he is likely the best "martial arts actor" in the direct to VOD format, even if he branch a bit more than Scott in term of style. But i digress. I didn't "backed" Outlaw Johnny Black because Westerns never been much of my things even tough i did enjoy Young Guns and a few others in the past, and i didn't expected this to contain martial arts. But the trailer wich i watch recently told me otherwise !

I realize yesterday the movie was on Prime Video, so i had no reason to not give it a shot. Overall i can say i "enjoyed" the movie but i had a fair share of issues with it and thats what im gonna talk about in this review.

First of all the runtime is way too long. The movie would had benefited to be 40 minutes shorter at the very least. There is definately scenes that could had been trimmed, some even removed. The second problem is there is surprisingly little action. Altough there is indeed some martial arts as the trailer suggest, it only happen a few times and you see the most of it in said trailer. I know you gonna tell me "but dude its a western"... And yes it is, but even the gun action was lacking and only happened very sporadically.

What "saved" the movie for me was the humor and jokes. Some of them landed pretty well, and MJW line deliveries and facial expressions at times were pretty hillarious. Supporting cast also had some good scenes and lines. But when the movie tried to get back to the "plot" i wasn't much interested. Its your basic run of the mill plot and the movie try to branch in too many directions with too many different vilains ultmately not giving enough screentime to neither.

When it comes to the Natives in the movie, i know this was done on purpose for the satyre/humor but it just came out weird on screen that they all of various races and portrait in a very spoof kind of way. Even Adam Sandler's The Ridiculous Six Natives look more serious... This is probably the comical aspect that landed the least for me. Thanksfully its not a huge part of it.

MJW also directed the movie and honestly in term of direction, cinematography, music and such, everything was competent and fine, while nothing stand out too much either. I would say for a first movie to direct, he did a fine job.

Ultimately i enjoyed enough of the movie to put it in the "liked" categories and give it a 6 out of 10. But its not one ill watch again or add to my physical collection.

The intro was slow which was a minor issue but the cast holds the comedy and action well.

The story was funny, light, and engaging once it picked up when Johnny enters the location of majority of the movie.

The time spent with the characters and the way all the actors worked together was amazing you can tell they had fun while also sharing it towards people on screen.

It was a joy to see so many familiar faces, and so many of the cast from black dynamite shows up while seeing new ones.

I'm hard pressed to find someone who didn't deliver, one of my favorite scenes is when the character Jessie lee is introduced.

It had me and others in the theater dying laughing.

I would recommend to anyone who has seen the directors last work like this, and to anyone who enjoys a classic story of a villain turned hero.

Michael Jai White's "Outlaw Johnny Black" (2023) attempts to blend martial arts action with Western comedy, but ultimately falls flat, delivering a lukewarm and utterly unmemorable cinematic experience. The film suffers from a severe lack of narrative focus, meandering aimlessly between its action sequences and attempts at humor without ever truly committing to either. The supposed "charming" interactions and comedic timing feel forced and contrived, lacking the genuine spark necessary to engage the audience. Despite Michael Jai White's physical presence, the dialogue often feels clichéd and uninspired, as if the writers simply strung together a series of genre tropes without any regard for natural conversation or compelling comedic timing. Instead of a fresh and energetic take on the Western, it offers a superficial and often irritating spectacle of forced whimsy.

Is it worth watching? No, unless you have an exceptionally high tolerance for formulaic action-comedies and a desire to see a predictable narrative unfold. There are far more engaging and genuinely entertaining Westerns available.

When I stumbled upon this 2023 Western titled "Outlaw Johnny Black" here in 2023, I had never heard about the movie. But seeing that the movie had Michael Jai White on the cast list was more than sufficient to make me stop and take notice. Needless to say that of course I opted to watch the movie solely because Michael Jai White was on the cast list.

Writers Byron Minns and Michael Jai White put together a rather enjoyable and entertaining script and storyline. It is a script that combines both good storytelling, action, comedy, and good old fashioned Western. And I have to admit that I was more than genuinely entertained throughout the course of the 130 minutes that the movie ran for.

The acting performances in "Outlaw Johnny Black" were good, and Michael Jai White definitely carried the movie quite nicely. It was a good cast ensemble, with the likes of Barry Bostwick, Chris Browning and Randy Couture as the only familiar faces for me. But I will say that the likes of Anika Noni Rose, Erica Ash and Byron Minns also were great in the movie.

"Outlaw Johnny Black" looked and felt like a Western, and the added light action and comedy elements were sprucing up the movie quite nicely, making it all the more of an enjoyable movie to sit through.

My rating of "Outlaw Johnny Black" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

Something that Micheal Jai White does better than Marshal Arts is making Blaxpolation films. Although, I believe White would rather I refer to this as a western, but he can't deny at the end of the day he was paying homage to the likes of Fred Willimson and the late great Jim Brown.

Some big shoes to fill but he filled them and almost busted out of them. It was action packed and humorous and still drove in a valuable message for the masses. It seems he also sneaked in some of his own value system as well without kicking us in the chest with it.

But of course, he does some kicking. Not a lot of moves but some real good ones. White is shining in this movie and the whole cast is impressive.

Left the theatre just wanted so much more.

Brillant film.