Birthright Outlaw

Modern westerns typically only come in 2 flavors, excellent or barely watchable. This one is not in the excellent category by any means, but it was quite a bit less cheesy than Dead Man's Hand that I watched directly before this one (which was barely watchable). It's clean and knows what it is but the writing/plot is tedious at times and I thought many of the dialogue scenes were too long and drawn out. Production was obviously on a budget but was ok. Acting and costuming were decent and shots were clean. Lucas Black was probably the least convincing of the bunch for some reason- I guess I've seen Tokyo Drift too many times.. "maaa ride".

Watch at your own risk. Meaning: if you like any type of western, you're ok with so-so acting, you don't care if the directing is weak/amateurish... when you finish watching the movie you will say, "ok" movie.

If you are a 'movie buff', don't watch this movie. The acting and direction will have you shaking your head.

The plot is typical or better said 'done too many times'. And this results in no surprises, overly predictable scene after scene.

Lastly... this is a TV-movie at best. One that you quickly skip over while searching your channels and if you really can't find anything at all to watch, you return to this tv-movie and watch it because there is nothing else to do. Oh and yes you will say after that this was an "ok" movie at best.

I loved it. Great score, great love story about marriage when things get hard. Fun moments, appropriately tense at times. Family friendly, for the most part. It has the feel of a classic western movie, including the surreal fun of criminals who are given to hypocrisy. It's faith based and the speeches about God are not cheesy or fake or wishy washy, but rather real and raw and tender. It's hard to convey faith and family in a cinematic way without it coming across shallow, and somehow the director captured it. It's not a perfect film, but it's the perfect film for me. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this director.

The only reason it didn't receive 10 stars from me.was its use of modern bible version scripture references. This movie was authentic in so many ways; from the cinematography to the music to casting to screenplay. The only Bible version that was widely used during the timeframe and setting of the movie was the King James Bible. For that faux pas it gets only 9 stars. Whether this was intentional because of the bent of the producer or director remains to be seen.

Lucas Black and Sarah Drew's performances shined in my opinion but there were no characters in this movie that were weak. I highly recommend this movie.

What a joy it was to see a new western with a Christian theme.

It is such a joy to watch a western with the qualities that made this nation great when it was. When I watch a movie like this I understand that the values that this Western propagates are not the values of the past but the only hope for our future. It has elements of confronting one's past with deliberate honesty after having been delivered to a different path than that past life, and finding grace of God waiting in the end. It is a movie that looks to the future with hope and vigorous knowledge of the birthright the movie is alluding to in Christian faith, the birthright of his kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Excellent movie!