Corsicana

Cinema is subjective but I'm not entirely convinced I saw the same movie that all these 9/10-star reviews saw.

I really wanted to like this film but it was simply a disappointment. Painful pacing, amateur acting, laughable writing, and distracting continuity errors are among the failures that kept pulling me out of the movie and left me shaking my head at the production team from beginning to end. The lone highlight for me was the cinematography where there seemed to be an effort to spotlight the landscape of Corsicana and capture it's beauty, but even then it was overplayed and drawn out as if they knew that was all they had going for it.

Washington's directorial debut fell flat in my opinion and we are left with a hollow, even if well-intentioned, attempt at telling the worthy story of Bass Reeves.

The gratuitous brutality at the start of the movie makes it something that we cannot let children watch. However, if the introductory storyline had been depicted with more innuendo, it is a good movie to share with all family members. The story line was relevant. The satisfaction of retribution was fulfilling. The acting was plausible and generally appropriate in emotional depiction. The scenery was quite astute and beautiful. Jason Johnson's knife throwing ability was phenomenal. It is good to see a movie where actual ability outranks the obviousness of a gun. This movie depicts a "fight" versus "flight" outcome that is a fundamental tenet of how men and women protect civilization.

I looked forward to seeing the story of Bass Reeves told, but not in such a lame way. Washington did a good job as Bass, but should have stayed in front of the camera. His directorial choices made it tedious and nonsensical, except creating truly heinous villains.

I admire the lack of dialogue as that was realistic, but when they did speak the words were stunted and flaccid. I can only hope that someone will actually do Bass Reeves justice by assembling a good team of writers and a quality director.

This movies actors were OK for the budget, the scenery and set were excellent, and wardrobe was well done.

I paid to watch this on Amazon, and was happy to do so. I've admired Mr Washington's acting over the years and took a chance on this. I was rewarded by doing so.

This was a gritty, dirty, and a realistic feeling Western. The history of Bass Reeves is a story trove waiting to be exposed, and Mr Washington did a fine job doing so.

We have been conditioned to believe Westerns to be a slick affair. This movie reflected the grime of living back then. It's a much needed realistic move reflecting the times.

My only regret is that Mr Washington didn't start out earlier in Bass Reeve's life. The potential for sequels is ripe with this subject.

I encourage anyone to watch it. It's worth it.

I can only assume the reviews giving this 9 and 10 are paid for, or know the cast/crew. I realise it's a subjective matter, but I don't know how anyone could give this film more than a 5.

As it stands, it's the first western I haven't been able to finish. The writing is awful, the direction is all over the place and the music feels like it was added by someone who hasn't watched movies since the 80s and 90s. It's soulless.

The only thing that saves it from getting a 1 from me is opening 20 minutes, which made me think I was going to be watching a darkly engaging, if basic, western. It was a strong opening. I'm really not sure what went wrong. Perhaps the team thought they were making a statement piece, when they should have been concentrating on the entertaining the viewer.

I'll keep waiting patiently for a film that does justice to Bass Reeves.