Quote:
Originally Posted by vincenzo  The scene where Attenborough finally leaves the house (in daylight) after killing his wife and calmly walks away from Rillington Place always sends a chill up my spine. |
He's really slimy and sleazy as well. Wonderfully unflattering turn by Sir Dickie.
"The Horseman" http://www.beardyfreak.com/rvhorse.php
“The Horseman” is an Australian vigilante flick about a father tracking down the men who drugged and used his, now dead, daughter in a porn film.
At the heart of the movie is the wonderful performance by Peter Marshall as the avenging father.
And like the film, it’s a performance of two rather different aspects.
As the barely in control grieving father he is fantastic and delivers serous dramatic strengths to his character.
This is a dark, gritty, painfully realistic in its feeling, performance that gives the film genuine dramatic class.
But, despite his general look and age (though he is suitably tough in build), Marshall also gives us a thuddingly violent, murderously driven figure of vengeance who almost moves into action star territory.
Marshall’s superb, dramatically serious, performance as the broken father is so intense and all-encompassing that it actually makes sense that he can take on so many younger men in numerous, truly brutal, smackdowns.
You feel his sheer strength of hate and raging, adrenaline fuelled, power could enable Christian to do what he does in the non-flashy, frenzied way he does it.
Where we slip is in the amount of damage he takes personally. We sadly do move (sadly because it’s not really this type of movie) into Van Dammage territory as far as the sheer brutal abuse his body takes.
For all the reality of his own attacks on others, the attacks by others on him are out of a fantasy fight flick and when added to the otherwise deeply serious psychological aspects of his character these cliché action/physical traits sit badly.
The action though is stunningly brutal in its execution and content.
There are no real effects sequences here, but there’s a lot of blood spattered, bone snapping, flesh pummeling violence and again Marshall’s utter conviction and drive during these scenes (be they fights or scenes of cold-blooded, very nasty, torture) not only helps sell them but gives them much added power.
The screenplay’s slightly schizophrenic nature towards Christian’s character is also mirrored in its plot as well.
We have (again fine in cheesy action films, not so fine here) too many long-used contrivances that aid Christian and he gets out of more tight corners in the nick of time than James Bond.
These elements give the film a really strange vibe thanks to the otherwise truly dark, gritty drama they are weaved into.
The film is not sure what it wants to be, dark drama or brutal action film, but decides that both things are great so embraces them both.
It should be that two such effective styles, both done exceedingly well, should meet to make the perfect cinematic storm, but in reality, despite how good they are individually, they never truly match up to make a perfect movie on the whole.
What does remain consistent in its brooding nature though is the excellent score (composed and performed by Ryan Potter) that compliments Christian’s dark journey and heartbreaking loss to perfection.
Most of the henchman roles are taken by some excellent fight and stunt men who really sell the crunching action and when added to the effective cinematography, tight direction ,excellent pacing and structure it all ensures the film looks and feels far richer than it’s meagre budget.
So what we have is a very well made, exceptionally well acted by Marshall, dark, gritty, brooding, serious revenge film but with full-on action thriller sensibilities that tend to work against the realism and grit of the central drama.
Thus “The Horseman” is a peculiar movie overall, but a movie that’s full of so many excellent and satisfying components that you can, and should, ultimately forgive the faults in tone and settle down with what is still a very satisfying, dark, brutal and grim tale of a father’s vengeance.