The ultimate revisionist American western since 'Unforgiven' set that 'revisionist' trend in '92, and quite a potent work for the times we live in, which, for the observant who care, acts as an allegory for the 'hostiles' we live with, all around us.
Re-unites director Scott Cooper (Out of the furnace, Crazy heart, Black Mass) with Christian Bale, who gives this, like he does everything else, his all.
There's another reunion of sorts, Bale's again, this time with supporting character Ben Foster after their tryst in the superior remake of 3:10 to Yuma (as always, this 'Messenger' owns every scene he's in, though I do wish he was in more). Plus, performance-wise, there's quite a surprise package, and I'm not referring to the masterful veteran (Dances with Wolves), Wes Studi -YellowHawk, father of BlackHawk.. And no, it's not just Rosamund 'Gone girl' Pike either, who's fab, and the ending(s) is(are) 1(2+) for the ages. More on that in just a bit... So, while everyone performs well & then some, but 1 of the toughest roles has gone to Rory Cochrane, and he held me spellbound from the very beginning, and makes an impact even when he's not in-frame but influencing the in-frame action.
The cinematography and score are top-notch, scathingly (in a good way) evocative of other recent cult-classics which were served very well by these departments - Arrival (though its of a different genre) and the Coen bros. remake of 'True Grit', and most importantly, 'The Revenant'.
Not everyone belonging to the current generation is gonna find this meditative piece (most of the key action, when it happens, happens off-cam, a minimalist approach which is as welcome as it is effective).. From among the movies I've had the fortune to catch on the big screen this year, the best..
+, just when I was thinking why the movie was dwelling on the main leads after I thought there was no more story left to say, it turns out there was a sledgehammer of a tale left towards the end. The endings, both the faux one (in my head), and the real one, has to be 1 of the most poetic and profound, ever committed to the paper, and eventually, film.
"Sometimes I envy the finality of death, the certainty"... 1 for the ages.
Re-unites director Scott Cooper (Out of the furnace, Crazy heart, Black Mass) with Christian Bale, who gives this, like he does everything else, his all.
There's another reunion of sorts, Bale's again, this time with supporting character Ben Foster after their tryst in the superior remake of 3:10 to Yuma (as always, this 'Messenger' owns every scene he's in, though I do wish he was in more). Plus, performance-wise, there's quite a surprise package, and I'm not referring to the masterful veteran (Dances with Wolves), Wes Studi -YellowHawk, father of BlackHawk.. And no, it's not just Rosamund 'Gone girl' Pike either, who's fab, and the ending(s) is(are) 1(2+) for the ages. More on that in just a bit... So, while everyone performs well & then some, but 1 of the toughest roles has gone to Rory Cochrane, and he held me spellbound from the very beginning, and makes an impact even when he's not in-frame but influencing the in-frame action.
The cinematography and score are top-notch, scathingly (in a good way) evocative of other recent cult-classics which were served very well by these departments - Arrival (though its of a different genre) and the Coen bros. remake of 'True Grit', and most importantly, 'The Revenant'.
Not everyone belonging to the current generation is gonna find this meditative piece (most of the key action, when it happens, happens off-cam, a minimalist approach which is as welcome as it is effective).. From among the movies I've had the fortune to catch on the big screen this year, the best..
+, just when I was thinking why the movie was dwelling on the main leads after I thought there was no more story left to say, it turns out there was a sledgehammer of a tale left towards the end. The endings, both the faux one (in my head), and the real one, has to be 1 of the most poetic and profound, ever committed to the paper, and eventually, film.
"Sometimes I envy the finality of death, the certainty"... 1 for the ages.