Glory Glory

I have to admit that when I sat down to watch the 2002 Western movie "Glory Glory" (aka "Hooded Angels"), I wasn't really harboring much of any expectations to the movie. It was mostly because of the title "Glory Glory", which just didn't have any particular sense or wow effect to it. But I still opted to give the movie a fair chance, since I never saw it before, much less even heard of it.

Writer and director Paul Matthews put together quite an enjoyable script for the movie. I have to say that I was positively and genuinely entertained throughout the 102 minutes that the movie ran for. I liked the storyline told in the movie, because it was well-written, had interesting characters and a fair amount of action and character development.

The acting performances in the movie were quite good. And while I was only familiar with Amanda Donohoe, Paul Johansson and Gary Busey on the cast list, I have to say that they definitely had a good ensemble of talents on the cast list, because everyone put on good performances and helped to bring the characters to life on the screen.

Visually then "Glory Glory" was good, because the movie looked and felt like a Western-era based movie. They had put a lot of effort into the sets, the wardrobe and the props. And that definitely helps to flesh out a Western movie, adding to its enjoyment.

If you enjoy Western movies, then "Glory Glory" is well-worth sitting down to watch, despite of its somewhat strange title. I was genuinely entertained throughout the entire movie.

My rating of "Glory Glory" lands on a six out of ten stars.

I fast forwarded much of the "film" as it was so bad. Every negative review is supposed to say one positive thing about the movie so: There was one horse in the chase scene that could kind of act, a little bit.

No Plot.

No Script.

Third Grade Music.

First Grade Cinematography.

Should have been cast with kangaroos as the story jumps around so much.

Not unlike Chicago streets, but with pretend Cowboys and Cowgirls.

I understand that if you want to be in movies, you have to pick from what is offered to you, but abstinence is a viable option here.

Johnny Reb comes through town raping and killing women and children. A band of women decide to seek justice in their own way.

Amanda Donohoe (Bad Girls, L.A. Law), Chantell Stander. Juliana Venter, Jenna Dover. Julie Hartley, Candice Argall, Jennifer Steyn, Ana Alexander. and Michelle Bradshaw made up a gang of women who were robbing banks and killing people while Paul Johansson (One Tree Hill) follows trying to get the "man" who killed his father.

Yes. there were a few exposed breasts, but it could have had a lot more. In that sense, it wasn't an exploitation film. A lesbian kiss, but that was it. What you would expect with eight women riding together.

It ended the only way it could.

As other reviewers noted, the story wasn't bad, but the costuming was the absolute worst I think I've ever seen. Leather cowboy hats?? SERIOUSLY!? The clothing looks like they scoured every Goodwill shop in California to find anything that was remotely a western-like flair quite despite any accuracy or logic. And why did every male character have to have the worst fright wig long hair. Long hair for men was not popular during the era portrayed. The civil war scenes were something awful, too. One has to watch this movie and suspend any thought that it is in the least bit a real western and is just a fantasy movie. A lot of the actors are recognizable, from other shows over the years, so at least they hired real actors for the piece. That really helped.

"Hooded Angels" aka "Glory Glory" is a movie that should come with a warning label, something like: "caution- watching this movie is a waste of time-the ending does not deliver anything useful". When you begin watching a movie that physically looks professional (decent cinematography-good film stock) you tend to assume that its other elements (story, acting, production design) will also be professional. Inside this professionally shot package is a story about a group of aging beauty queens and models robbing banks in the American West, wearing a selection of clothes from the Neiman-Marcus Leather Shop, showcasing acting talent on the level of your local high school's senior play, and engaging in a whole lot of poorly staged violence. So it would seem reasonable to assume that there is more here than meets the eye since nothing could be unintentionally this bad.

Midway into the movie you conclude that this is some kind of ambitious "expressionistic" masterpiece (insert David Lynch here). So you watch the rest of it, waiting for director Paul Matthews to pull all these surreal qualities into a nice package of allegory and metaphor. But this does not happen because this is actually supposed to be serious (insert "realism" here), it is actually supposed to be taken literally. Its record-breaking score on the lameness meter is unintentional.

"Hooded Angels" is what would happen if someone were unwise enough to cross "Taxi" (2004) with "The Quick and the Dead" (1995) and mix in a little Sergio Leone texture. Unfortunately nothing good results, only bad and ugly.

The earlier comments give a reasonably accurate detailing of the story. This may not be the worst movie of all time but it is a strong contender.