Movie Review: Dawn Rider (2012)

Release Year: 2012
Director: Terry Miles
Writer: Joseph Nasser
Studio: Nasser Entertainment
Rating: R
Runtime: 94 minutes
Setting: The Dakotas, Wyoming







What It's About

In the early 1880s, on-the-run ex-lawman "Cincinnati" John Mason (Christian Slater) returns to his home town of Promise, Wyoming, where he patches up his relationship with his father (Ken Yanko) and befriends Pony Express clerk Ben McClure (Ben Cotton). John's sanctuary is soon shattered when masked bandits wound him and murder his father during an attempted robbery of the Express station. Nursed back to health by childhood friend Alice Gordon (Jill Hennessy), John sets out on a quest for vengeance that will pit him against not only the masked gang (led by Alice's brother Rudd [Lochlyn Munro]), but also force him to outwit an Eastern bounty hunter (Donald Sutherland) as he navigates a love triangle between himself, Alice, and Ben.

Christian Slater as John Mason in Dawn Rider (2012)

 If that seems like a complicated, tantalizing plot, just keep two facts in mind. First, Dawn Rider is a remake of The Dawn Rider (1935), an early John Wayne B-Western that clocked in at just 51 minutes. Most importantly, the 2012 iteration of the story was written by the same individual credited with delivering the scripts for Anna Nicole (2007) and Paparazzi Princess: The Paris Hilton Story (2008). To be fair, Joseph Nasser has had a hand in writing and producing several action films to go along with his "omg!"-oriented screenplays, so the end result here isn't nearly as bad as it sounds on the surface. Still, it falls short of tapping in to the potential edge-of-the-seat tension of the story.

Filmed digitally, the cinematography of Dawn Rider is at times quite beautiful. The rugged charm of British Columbia in autumn is used expertly to provide atmosphere as well as a backdrop for the unfolding story. Add to that a convincing array of clothing and accoutrements (costumer Zohra Shahalimi won a Leo Award for Best Costume Design), and the visual presentation of the film stands out as a highlight.

Jill Hennessy as Alice Gordon in Dawn Rider (2012)

The casting was, for the most part, appropriately done with none more so than that of Jill Hennessy as the female lead. Not only does the wiry veteran actress have a look that is perfectly suited to a role in Western films, but Hennessy convincingly portrays the sort of rough-around-the-edges woman that would have been commonplace during that time period. It's surprising to me, then, that Dawn Rider is her first genre appearance.

Christian Slater has largely been relegated to the world of B-rate thrillers and action flicks since his heyday in the very early '90s (which included his only previous Western film, Young Guns II). While there's been no shortage of work coming his way, I suspect that his rather limited arsenal of personae will ultimately keep him tied to movies such as these. Some say that if you've seen one Christian Slater movie, you've seen them all, and this holds mostly true for Dawn Rider as well. Be that as it may, I was pleased with Slater's handling of the emotional roller-coaster that John Mason was subjected to.

Donald Sutherland as Cochrane in Dawn Rider (2012)

I've always been a fan of Donald Sutherland's ability to emulate, with perfection, the creepy/crazy nature that dominates most of the characters that he's called upon to portray. When it comes to insanity, Sutherland is an artist. In Dawn Rider, however, Sutherland's bounty hunter character Cochrane isn't so much crazy as he is eccentric... and creepy. With a professed disdain for "the West", Cochrane relentlessly pursues his quarry - though his not a man without reason. Even though this was an ancillary role, Sutherland's presence when on screen is a boon to the overall quality of the film.

Sticking with the casting of Dawn Rider, perhaps the most head-scratching choice was that of Lochlyn Munro as outlaw leader Rudd Gordon. I get that he's Canadian, and that this is a Canadian film, but he will be forever (in my mind, anyway) Craig from A Night at the Roxbury (1998). Sure, he's starred in a gaggle of films before and after that slice of comedy gold (including two Westerns), but his goofier roles have tainted his ability to convince me that he's a ruthless bad ass. Sorry Lochlyn, but it is what it is.

Lochlyn Munro as Craig Rudd Gordon in Dawn Rider (2012)

As I mentioned earlier, Dawn Rider's Achilles' heel is the handling of the story by writer Joseph Nasser. The plot is sound, with plenty of opportunity for mystery, suspense, and action, but there's an overall rushed quality to the pacing that thwarts much of the film's potential. The anachronistic script, which is over-reliant on the f-bomb (even from Hennessy's character), helps keep viewers from becoming fully immersed in the story. I'm no fucking prude, of course, but I like my Western dialogue to be a bit more reflective of historical norms. Some of the blame for the uneven story deserves to be placed at the feet of director Terry Miles, however, given that episodes of disjointed scenes and roughshod editing mar the flow of the film.

As steamy as it gets

Westerns, almost as a rule, bring with them several genre clichés that one just expects to see from time to time. Hopefully as an ode to the original story, Nasser gives us a black-hatted villain and a hero mounted upon a white horse. Excusable in a good film, these elements become a little trite in films that otherwise struggle.

Although there's plenty of lead slinging going on, and death and injury are central plot devices, Dawn Rider is not a particularly bloody or violent film. In fact, the "bloodshed" itself would warrant at worse a PG-13 rating. So instead of focusing on the horrific nature of gunshot wounds, Miles give us a slightly sanitized view suitable for even the most squeamish of Western fans.

Busted!

 

Despite its flaws, which are really quite minor compared to some low- and moderate-budget Westerns that have been released recently, Dawn Rider is a mostly enjoyable genre film that touches on nearly everything we've come to expect from a Western. I would have liked the story to have been handled more deftly, with John Mason's passed explored a bit more in depth, but on the other side of the coin there's plenty of material for a future rewrite.

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Movie Review: The Mountie (2011)

aka The Way of the West, Lawman
Release Date:  2011
Director:  Wyeth Clarkson
Writers:  Wyeth Clarkson, Grant Sauve, Charles Johnston
Studio:  Travesty Productions
Rating:  R
Run Time:  83 minutes
Setting: Yukon

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Plot Summary
Retitled for American DVD audiences as The Way of the West, The Mountie is a distinctly Canadian film that follows disgraced Mountie Wade Grayling (Andrew W. Walker) as he surveys a remote corner of the Yukon Territory in preparation for the establishment of a NWMP (forerunners of the RCMP) outpost. As luck or misfortune would have it, Grayling stumbles upon a spartan settlement of Latvians on the Stewart River, under the control of priest Olaf (Earl Pastko), who not only have something to hide but are terrorized by a gang of Russian opium runners. Grayling, enraptured by the priest's daughter Amethyst (Jessica Paré) and seeking to atone for his past mistakes, digs up the group's secret and goes head to head with the Russians.

Andrew W. Walker traverses the Yukon as Wade Grayling

Review
Director and co-writer Wyeth Clarkson turns his attention from teen noir films to tackle the vast expanses of the late 19th-century Canadian West in The Mountie, and right away I was impressed by the lush cinematography which conveys - as well is it can on the small screen - the rugged and untamed beauty that is the Yukon Territory. I was equally pleased by the authenticity of the costumes and sets, though some items appeared a little too "new" to have been exposed to such an unforgiving environment for any longer than a day or two. So for me, the stage was adequately set for an enjoyable Canadian western that didn't suffer from aesthetic distractions.

The story is a familiar one, of a hero who suffers from being human (and having made a grievous mistake for which he's atoned) given an opportunity to conquer his past while aiding the helpless to a promising future. Montreal native Andrew W. Walker's constant Clint Eastwood impersonation is more than a little laughable as he portrays the gritty and worldwise Corporal Wade Grayling, and although Walker's performance was mostly stiff and emotionless I still found myself rooting for the protagonist as he takes on the ruthless Russian drug runners. Slight of build yet excellent with a long gun, Grayling's success and continued vitality is ensured by a number of implausible plot holes (point-blank misses by the bad guys, Spiderman-like agility, etc.) that are tough to swallow. Cue in those point-blank misses during the film's climactic gun battle, and The Mountie struggles to maintain a decent level of credibility.

The Latvian settlement

The Russians, led by a gruff Cossack named Kleus (George Buza), are a motley bunch who seem to have a hard time committing to any one course of action. For instance, upon meeting Cpl. Grayling they proceed to beat him to within an inch of his life, then invite him in for dinner and homemade apple pie. Later on, they use the priest's daughter as bait to capture him for the purpose of stringing him up, but take their sweet time about it which of course leaves plenty of opportunity for Grayling to escape.

Running parallel to Grayling's struggle with the Russians is his interest in Olaf's daughter Amethyst. Sporting a brutal facial scar intended to keep suitors at bay, she nevertheless captures Grayling's attention from the moment he first lays eyes on her. As the film progresses, she reveals details about her tragic life that only serve to strengthen Grayling's resolve to pursue her affections, which of course leads to the hanging situation I mentioned earlier.

Wade Grayling, surveyor

The performances from the primary actors were decent, the Clint Eastwood-isms aside. The supporting cast is made up mostly of amateurs, with very little in the way of dialog, but they do a fine job of portraying a fearful and oppressed community. A smattering of lines delivered in Russian was a nice touch to lend a bit more authenticity, offsetting some of the inconsistencies in the story, though for all I know they could have been speaking Vulcan.

Overall The Mountie was a decent and interesting movie and not nearly as terrible as some reviewers have portrayed it. If you ignore the atrocious attempt to market the film to American DVD audiences and don't expect an "American" western, taking the movie for what it is, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

For the Stathounds:
Body Count:	13
Explosions:	3
Full Moons:	1
Actors who've appeared on Dukes of Hazzard:	0
Actors who've appeared on Twilight Zone:	1*

^* Veteran actor George Buza, who in The Mountie plays Russian gang leader Kleus, appeared in the 1989 episode Crazy as a Soup Sandwich of the late-'80s The Twilight Zone reboot.