Jane Got a Gun finally got to theaters last year after a famously troubled production. It stayed in the theaters in Houston for only a short time and disappeared to TV, which is where I saw it. I'm always on the lookout for a good western, so I couldn't resist taking a look. I'd call it okay, maybe Good Minus.Natalie Portman is Jane, and she's married to Ham Hammond (Noah Emmerich), a former outlaw who saved her from some bad stuff, although her small daughter was left behind. Ham comes to the cabin severely wounded and warns Jane that the Bishop boys are coming. This is the gang that he and Jane escaped from, and their leader, John Bishop (Ewan McGregor) is out for revenge. He and the gang are Very Bad Guys.
Jane goes for help to Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton) with whom she was in love before he left for the Civil War. Thinking he had been killed in the war, she'd headed west to start over with her baby daughter. After the war he'd searched for her all over, but when he found her, well, it was a bit late. So he's moody and says he won't help.
But naturally he changes his mind, and when he and Jane take on the Bishop boys, the movie takes off. Unfortunately, it takes a while to get there, with many flashbacks to fill in the backstory. The cast is uniformly fine, and the cinematography is really good. I like it that Natalie Portman seems to be channeling Raquel Welch (Hannie Caulder) now and then, at least in her attire. I wanted to movie to be better than it is, but it was adequate. Recommended if you want to see an adequate traditional western.
1 comment:
As it happens, I watched this one afternoon last week. As you say, it's a little slow at first, but then picks up nicely.
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