Review: Thomas Jane & Armie Hammer Are Outlaws In Travis Mills’ Brutal Western FRONTIER CRUCIBLE
The western is the genre that anchors American cinema. Of course there have been are many genres, but the western managed to create a certain mythos. Good versus evil, black hats versus white hats, Cowboys and Indians – there was an apparent morality in the early days of the genre that helped audiences see themselves in the characters portrayed on screen. Well, maybe they didn’t have to see themselves, but at the very least they got to see characters who they might want to be, or be like.
As time drew on, the morals got blurred and the heroes and villains began to intertwine. Even an iconic screen hero like John Wayne was willing to dig deep into the darkness and add a layer of moral complexity to characters like Ethan Edwards, the role he played in John Ford’s The Searchers. As the genre galloped on, falling in and out of favour with audiences, it became a way for filmmakers to show the complexities of the human condition. They could use the wide open plains to show the purity of the world, but there is violence within man, a struggle that is portrayed in how the cowboy on the open prairie faced the Native American or even his peer. Travis Mills’ Frontier Crucible embraces all of this history. Based on the book Desert Stake-Out by pulp novelist Harry Whittington, it feels like a tale that was mined in 1961 and refined through decades of storytelling. This film version is given added grit and gravel, because it was penned by S. Craig Zahler, the writer-director behind the exceptional 2015 western, Bone Tomahawk.
Myles Clohessy is Merrick Beckford, a former soldier with a haunted past who is looking for redemption by transporting medical supplies across the wilderness. He is faced by a multitude of trials which test his measure of a man. Coming across a desperate wife (Mary Stickley) with a wounded husband (Eli Brown) and a trio of outlaws (Thomas Jane, Armie Hammer and Ryan Masson), Beckford must work to placate his new found travelling companions and also ensure he that the much needed medicine gets to its location.
With a gloriously visualised opening filmed in Monument Valley (the location of many of John Ford’s iconic films) it’s clear that Travis Mills is embracing the western and delivering an interpretation of the genre that not only looks back to the past, but also takes a punchy modern-day approach that echoes the brutality of S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk (also produced by Dallas Sonnier). Peppered amongst the film is a series of songs by singer-songwriter Sean Rowe. These punctuate the film as transitional pieces, much like the way that Leonard Cohen’s songs cut through the icy locales of Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller.
Mills’ film features many surprises. There’s the aforementioned opening that features William H. Macy as a commanding officer that sets up the action, while adding a layer of gravitas to the film. Thomas Jane and Armie Hammer do good work in outlaw parts, playing against type and relishing their characters. Both men could have easily played the lead here, but they embrace the villainous nature of their roles, while also working with a lot of moral ambiguity. They’re bad men, but they’re just living in a world filled with violence and hate. Jane plays his part a little older, a little grizzled and he feels like an old character actor ripped from the celluloid of a 1950s Neo-Western. Hammer, returning to the screen after a couple of years in the wilderness is a little more rugged and less polished – something which adds to his look onscreen as a sleazy gunslinger. Myles Clohessy has a little less to do and its easy to see why Jane and Hammer grabbed their supporting roles with both hands.
Shot over the course of a pacy 18 days, Frontier Crucible is a modern day western for true fans of the genre. The middle sequences might feel a little too talky for those expecting shoot-outs and fist fights, but it helps build out character and create an emotional intimacy that works for where the plot is headed. And where it’s headed is into brutal territory. The final act might not be up there with Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk, but the two films are certainly neighbours when it comes to violent endings.
In a time where there is a lot of talk about the death of mainstream cinema, it’s great to see a smaller film like Frontier Crucible shine. Travis Mills’ western will surprise, entertain – and most of all, resonate – and that’s really all you can ask for.
Listen to the Movies In Focus Frontier Crucible podcast interview Thomas Jane and Travis Mills.
Frontier Crucible will be in U.S cinemas and On Digital Friday, December 5.
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