Bone Tomahawk
Combining genres tried and true in an attempt to make something new can always be a dicey proposition, even moreso in the realm of low budget independent filmmaking where in many cases, the writer / director is working from their own unaltered first draft of their original script, a good thing in some ways because the final product represents their pure, unfiltered vision but it also presents some impediments for the viewer in terms of pacing and straight up interest as one wonders if the writing is getting a little bit too carried away with itself and what is considered by the writer to be his own ingenuity. All this and more can be applied to this 2015 debut feature by one S. Craig Zahler, who prior to this had made quite a living and reputation for himself as a writer of original Western novels and now (armed with a relatively paltry budget of $1.8 million) had a chance to prove himself as a storyteller in the medium of filmmaking. Of course the big casting coup here was in successfully bringing in Kurt Russell to take on the lead role of Sheriff Franklin Hunt in what would be his first Western acting endeavor since his amazing turn as Wyatt Earp in the star studded 1993 classic Tombstone (a movie which he was heavily rumored to have secretly directed at the time as well), something that no doubt would be a HUGE selling point in order to bring in audiences looking to see Russell strap it on once again in an Old West environment. What people may not realize though going in was that this movie was only partially a Western, albeit a big part of which was about 75% in how it felt almost traditional in its story tropes, but the big departure here was its foray into also being a horror film as well, specifically a cannibal horror movie with its savages being horrific monsters who have no inhibitions about torturing and carving up living human beings for the purposes of eating them, and thus you have the horror elements from such classics as Hills Have Eyes (the cannibal clan lives in caves in the middle of nowhere) and Cannibal Holocaust (due to some intense gore scenes) squaring off against the classic representations of Tombstone (due to Russellâs presence) and even more intriguingly, John Fordâs The Searchers, due mostly to the fact that the main story involves the main characters being in a posse going on a search and rescue mission for not just one of their own deputies but also for the beautiful town doctor (or rather, doctorâs assistant) who have been swiftly and mysteriously kidnapped by the savages and taken back to their cave lair. The film begins with two filthy scavengers (a cameoing Sid Haig and David Arquette) waylaying some unlucky travelers, killing and robbing them in the process. Suddenly they find themselves being attacked by the cannibals with Arquette barely escaping with his life for that moment. Arquette makes his way into Russellâs sleepy little town where he presides as the local Sheriff saddled with a much older, nearly senile âback upâ deputy (Richard Jenkins). When Russell hears about the stranger Arquetteâs appearance in the town, he finds him at the local bar and begins to question him about his suspicious behavior only to be forced to shoot him in the leg when he assaults his deputy and attempts to escape. With the actual town doctor too drunk to be of any assistance, Russell recruits the beautiful, baby girl town nurse / doctorâs assistant (Lili Simmons) to humanely treat Arquette by removing the bullet from his leg and treating him for any other ailments before bringing him in for arraignment the next morning. However, when the next morning comes, it turns out that Arquette, Simmons and the deputy whom Russell had left in charge that night have suddenly vanished and over at the local stablehouse, all of the horses have been stolen and the local stable boy has been found brutally butchered and murdered. Upon examination of the weapons left behind, a local expert (whom nobody seems to trust since he himself is an Indian) concludes that this is the work of âtroglodytesâ, a primitive form of savage whose native blood is not necessarily Indian nor Mexican nor that of the white man, but he ominously warns that going after them will result in certain death for all involved. Russell disregards this because he knows that it is his job to bring these people back at all costs and so along with Jenkins he forms himself a posse that consists of a well dressed âgentleman gunfighterâ (Matthew Fox) with a particular fondness and stated expertise for killing Indians along with Simmonsâs grieving yet determined husband (Patrick Wilson). Just one problem: Wilson is nursing a broken leg already which in many ways makes him a liability but he is undeterred in his course of action that he just has to be a part of the group that is setting out and risking their lives to rescue his wife. And so off they go. And go. And go. It isnât long before one starts to realize just how awfully slow and ponderous the first half of this movie is, filled with cameo appearances from actors whom we donât even recognize anymore (Michael Pare, Sean Young) and a nearly endless series of quirky âcharacter momentsâ that might have worked if the story was more presentable on an epic scale, but sadly this is after all in the end just a gimmicked cannibal horror flick. That being said, any slowdown in pacing that occurs here is still manfully carried by Russell on his back and shoulders, a very impressive feat since not just anyone could have pulled that off in order to keep the audience awake. Even though he is playing an âolderâ character here (complete with white beard), Russell remains such a virile onscreen presence that itâs hard to believe that he could actually convincingly play an older person even if he tried. And with an audacious 2 hour and 12 minute running time, youâd better have a leading man for whom your audience can retain a rooted, grounded interest in. The four men slog through various arguments and ambushes by scavengers who are unrelated to the actual cannibals and finally in the second half we get to the more compelling scenes of the film as Wilsonâs broken leg gets worse all while he risks amputation by continuing and Foxâs dandy gunfighter scores various kills before we get to the heart of the cannibal compound and the really intense horror movie portions of the film commence. The film certainly doesnât hold back from the graphically violent elements of its chosen key threats even as we find out precious little about the cannibals themselves or their traditions, save for some sort of whistle that they have implanted in their throats that enables them to emit some kind of an inhuman sounding signal to each other, a far cry from a true classic like Cravenâs Hills Have Eyes that actually took the time to develop their villainous clan with as much insight as they took to develop their ânormalâ characters. But maybe that would be asking too much to show them conversing in any intelligible way so instead we settle for the one almost too gruesome for words revelation that all of the âactiveâ members of their clan are males whereas the only two females in the bunch are not only heavily pregnant with their ânext generationâ but they also just lay there with their arms and legs chopped off in order to represent the most sterile and purest form of âbaby machineâ. Thereâs also some religious allegory poured on here mostly in the form of Wilsonâs character usually talking out loud to God in order to give him strength against the monstrous (and godless) creatures that he must face down in order to rescue his beloved wife. At the end of the day, this still remains Russellâs show (as it rightfully should be) even as he remains a long way removed from his days stomping around and kicking ass in Tombstone (and donât even ask about Snake Plissken), but reportedly what compelled him to sign on to this low budget project was the fact that he was a major fan of writer / director Zahlerâs Western novels and thus was more than happy to lend his presence to Zahlerâs filmmaking debut. And it was this presence of his, despite the meandering nature of the story, countless funny / not funny moments that attempted to force us into liking these characters and oh, one actual original idea (i.e. tricking some of the cannibals into overdosing on opium as a way of killing them), that turned out to be the best creative decision of the film, casting a legendary actor whose name lives up to its billing, making a film far more enjoyable, likable and intriguing than it has any literal right to beâŚ
7/10