The Old Way

At 90-ish minutes, it feels about twice as long as it needs to be. Nice B-movie vibe at times, but I feel this film thinks (incorrectly) that it's much better than that. There's a lot of pontificating. If you like westerns, this will constantly remind you of much better ones, even if they're only average.

The epitome of Tell Don’t Show: “Well Mr. Briggs, it would seem that both you and I are now standing here in the middle of town, face to face, each of us armed with a pistol, loaded with bullets. Bullets that could kill a man. A man like you or me. And very soon the two of us will draw these pistols and shoot the bullets at one another, and perhaps your bullets will hit me and I will die, or perhaps my bullets will hit you and you will die, or perhaps we both will die. We’re both wearing hats.”

This is pretty mediocre as far as modern westerns go. It's got some beautiful shots of nature, but the plot is really not much to write home about. I liked that it had the daughter following her dad along and it did give it a fresh perspective. It's just that the writing kind of sucked so none of the dialogue came out sounding genuine and all the heartfelt discussion dragged on for way too long. Nick Cage carried this film.

A movie about a reformed badass killer brought back into action to avenge someone, something, anything, is going to have to work really hard for me to dislike it. I'm not impressed by this but I enjoyed it. Cage has a real presence even though this is not his finest work. Armstrong was a notable step up from her turn in Firestarter. Their chemistry is fine even if the movie doesn't do enough to warrant the rapid growth of their relationship. But hey, a fun revenge western, why not?

Nicolas Cage starring in a Western Vigilante movie. What's not to like??

A good shitty movie.

I'm probably underrating Cage's first western, but this could've been so much better than what we've got. Basically a no budget DTV John Wick-ish revenge film about Cage willing to avenge his wife's death, having to spend some time with his daughter on the road and teaching her some stuff while hunting down the killers. Just bullshit most of the time -- and not enough monologues of Cage's character saying he feels dead inside since he was a little kid. Speaking of which, the kid is really good.

I would describe this as serviceable. Cage and the little girl are pretty solid, and the whole thing feels low-budget but not trashy.

okay movie

While "The Old Way" doesn't break down the barriers of traditional Westerns, it's pure low-budget genre filmmaking at its core. The film feels unrealized, and the screenplay is weak, but it's a decent distraction if you need something to watch.

And then it's on to the wild west picture I'm most excited to see in 2023. Good or not, it's Nicolas Cage doing a Western! And you know what? The Western is in such a shitter, that this might be the most fun six-shooter released this year!

Adequate and competent, just not very memorable and in the end is lacking in thrills. Expected more from Nic Cage who was unusually stiff in this. Still, worth watching.