IMDb plot summary: A Texas Ranger investigates a series of unexplained deaths in a town called Helena.
Directed by Kieran Darcy-Smith. Starring Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth, Alice Braga, and Emory Cohen.
This movie is *trying* to be a lot of things -- a takedown of predatory religion, a commentary on vigilante justice, a lesson on the historical relationship between Mexico and the US in Texas... but it doesn't do any of those things very well. These aspects all flit in and out of the picture inconsistently based on how convenient they are. What is Harrelson's religion he's preaching that keeps his town enthralled? I haven't the faintest idea, but, hey, they're snake handling, so you know it's bad! What does this movie think of vigilante justice? Who knows, it doesn't actually come up until the ham-fisted monologue at the end! How is racism intertwined with this narrative? Well, we'll never really know, because the only non-white person whose story gets even partly told just abruptly loses all agency partway through the film and is then abandoned with no resolution. This script feels so rushed -- it definitely needed a few more edits to achieve thematic cohesion.
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Duel < Once Upon a Time ...in Hollywood
The Duel < The First Wives Club
The Duel > The Christmas That Almost Wasn't
The Duel < Marjorie Morningstar
The Duel > The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Duel > The Number 23
The Duel > Fedora
The Duel < Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
The Duel < Compulsion
The Duel > Dark of the Sun
The Duel > Shalako
The Duel < Darkest Hour
Final spot: #2624 out of 3205, or 18%.
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