Brimstone

A congregation dressed in black, hymns being sung flatly, an evil preacher, an abortion scene in the first 15 minutes... I should have known from the title that it wasn't the good western that the cover image conveyed. I could not make it through 20 minutes before I had to shut it off. It's a movie which seems determined to slander the most beautiful message that exists - the message of Jesus Christ. It is also another point of evidence that rated "R" and "MA" movies simply means "movies not worth poisoning your brain with". The actors were great. They played the roles well. But the subject material, the script, and the very idea of it is not worth consuming. **Psalm 10:4-6** **4** The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. **5** His ways are always grievous; Thy judgments are far above out of his sight: As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. **6** He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: For I shall never be in adversity.

An extremely grim and unsettling horror-Western with an interestingly structured plot, ‘Brimstone’ can be found either disgusting or superb; I'll go with the latter. 8/10

**A good Western, despite its weaknesses.** Many decades ago, Italian Western films were a huge success and guaranteed the careers of several actors, such as Clint Eastwood, and directors like Sergio Leone. This film, however, is neither Italian nor American: despite being spoken in English and featuring North American actors, it is a film directed by the Dutch (Martin Koolhoven and his team), shot in Spain and where Hungarians and Austrians also collaborated. Out of this Babel of nationalities, however, emerged a good Western film. The plot is the strongest point of this film, which wonderfully works the epic style and a tension that grows, chapter by chapter (was I the only one to see in this chapter organization and non-linear narrative some influence by Tarantino?). I won't reveal too much about the plot, but I think I won't spoil anyone's enjoyment if I say that everything revolves around a young woman who tries to escape from a crazed Protestant pastor who is determined to kill her, no matter the place or the circumstances. The film builds an absolutely detestable and maniacal villain, and gives the female character the gifts and strength to defeat him, and to captivate us with sympathy. The film is not perfect, there are logic flaws, continuity flaws and absurd situations. But the film nevertheless entertains the audience very well. Guy Pearce stands out the most, giving life to a captivating and execrable villain. The actor is excellent and gives us the best work of his career so far. Dakota Fanning holds the central female character and handles the task at hand well, but I felt several times that she doesn't have a challenging task. Kit Harrington can complain even more, since he saw his character killed early and didn't have time to show talent, despite the film being almost two and a half hours long. Regarding the length, I am of the opinion that it would have been better with about thirty minutes less, and that this denotes a certain sloppiness in the editing and in the selection of the scenes that should have been in the final cut. The film is impactful, it is quite violent, realistic and not suitable for teenagers, impressionable people and animal lovers (as far as I know, no one was hurt in the filming, but there are several intense scenes that include animals). The sets and costumes were very well-designed, despite the fact that the film works in a certain temporal limbo in which it is very difficult to have a sense of the time in which everything happens (somewhere between 1880 and 1910?). The scenarios are also very good, and the soundtrack was very well conceived.