GUNSLINGERS
(director/writer: Brian Skiba; cinematographer: Patrice Lucien Cochet; editor: Brian Skiba; music: Richard Patrick; cast: Stephen Dorff (Thomas Keller), Heather Graham (Val), Nicolas Cage (Ben), Randall Batinkoff (Doc), Cooper Barnes (Levi), Tzi Ma (Lin), Jeremy Kent Jackson (Robert Keller), Costas Mandylor (Jericho), Scarlet Stallone (Bella), Bre Blair (Mary), Laurie Love (Thalia), Mitchell Hoog (Jesse), Ava Monroe Tadross (Grace); Runtime: 104; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Randall Batinkoff, Jamie R. Thompson, Laurie Love, Scott Reed, Brian Skiba; Lionsgate; 2025)
“It’s a drab film with a large body count.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
It’s thinly written and unimaginatively directed as supposedly an action-packed genre period piece. But director Brian Skiba’s (“Clear Cut”/”Dead Man’s Hand”) homage to the genre has no originality and it skimps on the drama to go full-tilt on the action. Also, the dialogue is stilted and the muddled story is filled with cliches.
Thomas Keller (Stephen Dorff) in 1903, in NYC, kills a member of the Rockefeller family and steals a valued map during a shootout that leaves his younger brother Robert (Jeremy Kent Jackson) wounded, and he abandons him. Thomas becomes the most-wanted fugitive in America, with the biggest reward offered for his capture, as he flees to a small town in Kentucky called Redemption. He gives the town leader Jericho (Costas Mandylor) the valued map and Jericho arranges a fake hanging, as he lives quietly for the next 4 years.
When Thomas’s ex-wife Val Keller (Heather Graham) shows up in town with their daughter Grace (Ava Monroe Tadross), she also paves the way for Thomas’ irate wounded brother Robert to also come to Redemption looking to get even with his older brother for abandoning him during the robbery. Robert’s looking for revenge and the bounty money. Also coming to town are greedy bounty hunters and a posse.
The bounty hunters and town outlaws engage in bloody shootouts. Nicolas Cage has an insignificant cameo as a reformed gunfighter who becomes a minister, whose attempt at humor takes a bullet to the funny bone.
It’s a drab film with a large body count, mediocre production values and uninspired acting.
REVIEWED ON 4/14/2025 GRADE: C-
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