Gunslingers

Everyone wants redemption from something, but the act itself is often much harder than simply desiring it. What if, though, there was a place you could go where everyone was seeking that same redemption—a place where second chances exist without judgment from your past? We all know that place doesn’t exist, as our past always seems to follow us, and redemption feels like something that only happens in movies. Well, in Brian Skiba’s new film Gunslingers, that place is real—but the past has come back for revenge.

Thomas Keller (Stephen Dorff) has done something bad—so bad that he’s had to flee the city and head into the Kentucky wilderness. It’s there that he arrives in the town of Redemption, a haven for outlaws wanting to start over, just as the name suggests. This, of course, is exactly what Thomas is looking for. With the help of the town, he fakes his own capture and death so that he can return and live among them. The ruse seems to work, and Thomas settles in nicely with the other outlaws. But good things don’t last, even for a “dead” man.

Soon, a woman named Val (Heather Graham) shows up looking for Thomas, but the good townsfolk deny his existence. Not long after Val’s arrival, a large group of mercenaries led by Thomas’s brother Robert (Jeremy Kent Jackson) shows up, also looking for him. Hiding becomes more difficult. Robert is more than a little mad—Thomas left him for dead back in the city—so this isn’t a family reunion. Robert is here to collect the bounty on his brother’s head.

Written and directed by Brian Skiba, Gunslingers is, for the most part, a siege movie as the former outlaws and townspeople of Redemption trade gunfire with the bad guys. Unfortunately, we don’t really care much about most of the characters, as they leave little impression. Character development isn’t the only thing holding Gunslingers back—some of the gun fighting scenes are poorly shot, which, for a movie called Gunslingers, is ironic (and unfortunate). Where Skiba and his team do hit their mark is with the stunts. There’s plenty of broken furniture and shattered glass—I just wish the rest of the movie had that much energy.

Gunslingers is one of those movies where you can feel its budget, and not in a good way. That said, the money was spent wisely on a few things—the stunt work, and the inclusion of Nicolas Cage. Cage, like always, commits fully to the role. He plays Ben, a Jesus-loving weirdo who speaks in a raspy voice and is clearly having a much better time than we are watching the film.

What confused me most was Skiba’s use of A.I. in the opening shot—something never seen again in the movie—as he otherwise relies on practical stunts. To me, that just adds to the mess. While Cage provides a few watchable moments, Gunslingers misses nearly every target it aims for. I love a good Western, but Gunslingers isn’t that. And if I were the sheriff of Movie Town, I’d lock this one up and throw away the key.