MEET THE SLOWEST GUN IN THE WEST
NICOLAS CAGE had never starred in a Western before The Old Way (15, 95 mins, ★★III), and it’s fair to say, in the circumstances, that the venerable genre ain’t been missing much.
In a film that is almost impressively derivative, as if there were a checklist of much better Westerns at director Brett Donowho’s elbow, Cage does his best to give us a version of Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven (tick). Only his best is not nearly good enough.
He is Colton Briggs, retired gunslinger; the toughest, nastiest man in the West reformed by the love of a good woman but still a fellow of few words. Instead of seeming taciturn, however, Colton just seems plain dim. A heartfelt speech to his fragrant wife (Kerry Knuppe) makes him sound like Forrest Gump (accidental tick).
But anyway, she’s not around for long because a baddie with a 20-year-grudge against Colton turns up with his sidekicks and murders her, leaving Colton to saddle up with his spirited young daughter Brooke (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and go after the varmints.
There are fawning nods to True Grit (tick), High Noon (tick) and The Searchers (tick) as all this unfolds, but also to modern sensibilities, with both father and daughter appearing to have a form of autism. That shows a little more originality, but still the best that can be said for The Old Way is that there’s only just over an hour and a half of it.