This kicked serious ass and is what The Green Inferno should have been. The ensemble cast here was fantastic, especially Kurt Russel and even David Arquette. It's a bit on the bloated side, but I got immediately hooked from the opening scene and was never bored. The cannibals didn't fuck around in this movie either and while there not necessarily scary I definitely found them intimidating and the creepy almost inhuman sounds they made to communicate with each other was a nice touch. Overall, this is a very impressive debut for a first time director and I can't wait to see what he does next.

Here is a hard-to-resist idea—Kurt Russell plays a taciturn Old West lawman leading a small group into the wild to reclaim an abducted woman from a tribe of cave-inhabiting cannibals—undermined to a certain extent by uneven execution. At two hours and 10 minutes, it is far too long. The first half is downright cumbersome. Scenes overstay their welcome, often because the script is enamored to a fault with its own "adorable," self-aware, Tarantino-lite dialogue. The artificiality of the cyclical, verbose yes-sir-no-ma'am-yield-yer-repeater-and-rest-yer-hide banter slides the film toward camp, though a fine cast (Matthew Fox stands out as a dandy with a violent, Indian-hunting past) and a handsome aesthetic push in another, saltier, more grounded direction. The film becomes considerably more involving and satisfying in the second half as the characters focus and draw closer to a direct confrontation with the antagonists, who are truly menacing and mysterious.

C+

dat death scene tho

Bone Tomahawk

Wow, this is a terrific Western. I pretty much loved everything about this. It's a slow build up to a quite enthralling final third. Richard Jenkins is fantastic as usual, but he really impressed me here, and he has all the best lines. Kurt Russell, Matthew Fox, and Patrick Wilson are all good too, especially Fox - what a great character to play. Lili Simmons is a piece of hot stuff, so naturally loved her scenes (especially the sex scene). I really enjoyed the whole idea of these supposed intelligent white men, brave but stupid, going into the wolves den without knowing anything of their enemy. The "intelligent" cowboy versus the animalistic savage. It had such a raw feeling to the film which I didn't expect early on, and it is quite shocking too (at times gave me that stomach-churning feeling of Cannibal Holocaust). I loved how they depicted the savages. There's not one moments pause as they make actions. It is just see-react. Think-do. It really made an impression to the authenticity. A real menacing antagonistic force.

B+

Yeah, these cannibals sure as hell didn't fuck around. Creepy as fuck.

This is verging on an A- for me. I would need to see it in 1080 to be really sure.

I really love Westerns. I try and see all the Westerns that are made each year (there aren't many), and more often than not they are great. A Western these days is never going to get a high profile release unless Tarantino helms, and I also kind of like this - only people that really love them seek them out. Seraphim Falls, Slow West, The Salvation etc., and now Bone Tomahawk. I've have Ain't Them Bodies Saints ready to watch for a long time, and seeing this tonight might just have given me the necessary nudge to watch it.

Or the Coens.

Always slow, but never really boring. Great camera work and characters (both good and bad) make even the slowest parts tolerable. Bone Tomahawk takes forever to get going though. That's the main thing holding it back from being great.

I loved how they left that little sliver of hope for Kurt Russell with the 3 shots and the rock. The movie may not have the best start, but it sure does have a great ending.

I kind of liked it too, but then I thought 1) it's happened before in other movies, and 2) there's kind of no way he could survive with the injuries he endured. But still, I am glad he killed the whole gang.

I agree that it's slow, but I did not mind that at all. I only wished the dialogue was a but more punchy to fill the gaps - it needed Tarantino as an associate producer.

** / ***** (D)

David pretty much nailed it, except the movie didn't get any better in the final act for me. It's too slow and the only saving grace in the first half are the funny dialogue moments and rather great cinematography. Once the story goes into the desert cinematography goes very bad. The look becomes very uneven, I'm guessing it's due to the various filters they used for night/day/sunrise/sunset parts that just don't blend all that well. And the humor is gone (up until the girl tells them they're all idiots, which is what I was thinking the whole movie, so I was laughing very hard at that part).

Personally I don't understand why it was necessary to try a rescue mission. The world they live in is presented as a very dangerous one. So not only would they have to go through random thieves, murderers and "Mexicans" (as they did) they knew they were going up against bloodthirsty cannibals whose hand work they were able to see in the stables. Yet they all sleep at the same time, have no night watch and think it's a good idea to split up? It seemed all very idiotic to from the start. I also wasn't very impressed with the cannibals. They're even more brain damaged than the heroes of this movie. They can't hear gunshots, but one blow from that throw thing and they basically teleport in front of you and wait until you shoot them? OK. It was also funny how they were perfect shot with arrows while they were hidden far away, yet 10 feet away they miss the target completely several times in a row? A bit consistency wouldn't hurt this movie. Also their vocalization was rather laughable, nowhere near scary/weird.

Jenkins stole the show, followed closely by Fox. They both did great with their characters. Russell was good. Patrick Wilson was a rather weak link in the main cast.

This was great and at times stomach-churning shocking specially with the cannibalism on full display here. I loved how violent and gory the movie is in second half. The first half though feels really slow and required edit for it to become a classic.

B+