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".

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!

It's 1890 Arizona. Martha Rose Jacobs (Sarah Drew) is living her perfect life with husband Jeremiah Jacobs (Lucas Black) and daughter Hope Jacobs (Olivia Sanabia). One night, her past upends her life with a vengeance. They are attacked by a gang led by her father William 'King of Hearts' Bridges (Jeff Fahey) and Hope gets kidnapped.

I like the start and the opening premise. It's a B-western with aspirations to be a good spaghetti western. The filmmaking starts to falter a bit. A few things start bugging me. There is no way that she would hesitate to shoot that guy. She would probably shoot him in the back. She already shot someone in the back. There is no need to do that old trope where the good guy do not shoot first. That guy is shooting at her husband. She needs to put that guy down without warning. Finally, I find the whole card motif thing going overboard. They can be called that, but there is no need for the tents. It's a little ridiculous for rampaging fugitives to be putting up circus tents. There is a good idea here, but the execution keeps getting in the way.

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.