Into the Badlands

Yikes! I just kept waiting for something to happen. Never did! The old western atmosphere was the only thing worth anything. No story line, no plot, characters that go nowhere. You have to wonder what ever makes actors, a director or movie production company think this is going to be something worth spending money, time and talent on.

Dern burns up the desert.

Dylan McDermott & Helen Hunt are good, but who needs supporting cast when Dern's soliloquies with corpses are so deadly riveting. A character reminiscent of Kane the `preacher-man' in Poltergeist II, and portrayed almost as eerily, though with Dern wit.

Good western portrayal with authentic undertones. And a dern-good soundtrack too, if you can find it.

This movie is a bit of an odd duck - it is sort of like an episode or two of "Twilight Zone" masquerading as a western. Nothing wrong with that, it's just that the various story threads in the movie never get developed to their fullest.

However, what this movie lacks in the way of compelling story development, it more than makes up for with a very rich, absorbing Old West atmosphere. There is just something about the feel of this film - the photography, the costumes, the weapons, the Old West sets and real western locales (New Mexico), the expressions on people's faces... Call it a victory of style over substance... In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed the "look and feel" of this movie from start to finish. Watching the movie, there were more than a few times where I felt myself being transported back to a different place and time. I just wish the rich story development of a good western-genre movie such as "Unforgiven" (1992) with Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman, could have been woven into "Into the Badlands," as that would have completed this film and would have ultimately made for one very awesome Western movie.

But even in its current configuration, this movie is definitely worth checking out. I think you will be suitably dazzled by the Old West atmosphere that is conveyed in the film. Just don't expect a dazzling story to complement it.

This was not a well done western. You've got this nut riding around in the blazing sun in a buggy with a parasol over it, killing people for his own reasons. You've got this same person sitting in a snow cave during a blizzard, cutting off pieces of his anatomy which have been frostbitten. Then you've got some woman in a house out in the middle of somewhere shooting wolves that are not there. What is the point of this film? Couldn't Bruce Dern find something better to do? This was a waste of film.

Unfortunately I have only - at this point - seen the last 35 minutes of this film but based on that it is undoubtedly the finest spaghetti western ever made - or the best not done to be funny parody of one. cinematographer, director , make-up and sets duplicated the look and feel of the Italian films, threw in some marvelous Felliniesque and neo-realism, as done the in the late 40's /early 50's, and made New Mexico pass beautifully as the plains/deserts of Spain. Have to have this in my collection!!! (Just in case, yes I know it is an American made film.) That is the only important thing that needs to be said about the film but read on if you must . Bruce Dern gives a quite interesting version of his bad guy persona (though he is the good guy) and the only flaw I personally found in the 35 minutes was in a bar scene where Dern has pulled back his coat to show an obviously well used gun and he stops when a bad guy shows he is holding a shotgun - by the barrel with the stock on the floor. Sorry guys (writing problem) from that position any halfway decent gunman could take out the shotgunner and at least one person of normal ability without concern. Ah well - it stretched the action a little!.