LilyDaleLady
Because I am sick and tired of it, and it is exploited for sympathy or motivation for killing -- it is pure manipulation of the audience, not unlike tying an adorable toddler to railroad tracks in front of an oncoming locomotive. It's cheap thrills. It's disgusting.I am tired of renting movies, only to find out that any cute animal in the film is going to be brutally killed along the way, simply as exploitation. I think why it galls me so much here, is that I saw the opening, and the cute dog, and then the titles, which FEATURE the cute dog running around being cute and doing tricks, so I figured "they wouldn't feature the dog if they were going to cause it harm". Stupid me.Generally I refuse to watch films with violence to animals, on principal, but I never heard of this third rate direct-to-video cheapie, and I thought maybe it would be OK. I was wrong. It is not OK.It's basically an attempt to remake one of those cheap, spaghetti westerns of the 60s -- right down the titles, which are an homage of 60s style -- but update the flippant language and graphic violence to the present day. Frankly, I never much liked spaghetti westerns in the first place, but at least 50 years ago, the violence was cartoonish.Here its buckets of blood, slashed throats and of course -- dog murder.It doesn't make things better that Abby (Jumpy) is about the cutest, cleverest best trained dog I've seen in films or on TV in a long time -- she could be the next Lassie or something. She steals every scene with and out-acts protagonist Ethan Hawke (she out-acts John Travolta, too, but that's a low bar to clear). Because she is SO adorable and the camera (and crew and cast) clearly adore her....they focus on her so much, she stops being an "animal" and becomes the film's HEROINE....only to see her brutally killed in a sickening way.I'm sorry folks, but that is not entertainment. And I won't pay for it or watch it (by choice) and I will tell anyone in hearing distance to stay far, far away from this pathetic piece of garbage. No surprise this went direct to video. And how desperate are Ethan Hawke and John Travolta, who used to be A-list actors? They are a bit older, but look fine -- they clearly could do better stuff than this. If I were forced to this level of degradation in my career, I'd hang up my spurs & retire. 2 stars solely for Abby (Jumpy) giving an Oscar level performance, and to her trainer. What a sweetie! I'm just sorry I had to see her in this, and because I will never see her parts in this film again, because this film is an abomination that will never enter my home again.
Michael Ledo
Paul (Ethan Hawke) is some specially trained soldier who has deserted his wife and daughter for "what he has done" to run off to Mexico with his dog. He makes a pit stop at the town of Denton where he is forced to beat up Gilly (James Ransone) the town bully and deputy and also son of the Marshall (John Travolta). Then through a series of circumstances this becomes a formula, cliché filled revenge film. Paul gets the help of Mary Anne (Taissa Farmiga) a talkative girl who has a thing for him. Karen Gillan who is top billed has a smaller role as her sister and girlfriend of Gilly.This is not a great film, although I found it strangely entertaining, like watching a train wreak. The characters were written poorly and I wondered how these top names were coerced to make a film I would expect to see Eric Roberts. Ethan Hawke spends the entire film in a mental fog. The final killing was a formula "twist" that I saw coming from 30 minutes into the film. And what was with the dishonest preacher? (Burn Gorman) Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.
