Writer(s): Zahler
Starring: Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, and David Arquette
Horror/comedies can be a tricky thing already; that’s double
the case when the brunt of your material tackles serious themes. Most horror/comedies utilize ridiculous
premises that naturally allow the silliness to thrive, but Bone Tomahawk goes
the opposite direction, throwing attempted laughs in a movie that should not be
funny. And that’s the problem: it isn’t funny. Most horror writers aren’t comedy writers,
which is evident from the ill-timed jokes here.
I’m a little confused as to what purpose the humor serves—is it supposed
to take some of the sharpness off the graphic kill scenes and intense
atmosphere? Or is it thrown in there
simply to murder all forms of momentum the film was hoping to achieve? It does both.
Because of this, Bone Tomahawk is merely an average movie that could have been a
great one.
For a little over the first half of its bloated run-time, Bone Tomahawk plays like a straight
western: As the film opens, two thieves murder several men at a campsite, then
steal their possessions. When one of
them is suddenly slaughtered, the remaining survivor, Purvis (a sleazy and well-played David
Arquette) escapes to the nearby town of Bright
Hope , where Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Russell)
presides. Hunt’s old, but trusty deputy
Chicory (Richard Jenkins) notices Purvis drinking himself into a stupor in a
local bar, and senses something is wrong with him, so he notifies Hunt. A few moments later, and Chicory’s senses are
confirmed, leading Hunt to shoot Purvis in the leg, then haul him off to jail.
They then call the town doctor, Samantha (played by a
beautiful Lili Simmons) over to take care of his wound. But things take a turn for the worse when
Samantha, Purvis, and Nick, another deputy, all wind up missing, an arrow stuck
in a wall the only shred of evidence as to what happened to them. Hunt consults with a local Native American,
who informs him that only one clan hunts with arrows like that—a primitive
tribe of cave dwelling Indians known as “Troglodytes”. The Native American refuses to guide them on
their journey, and warns that going after them is suicide. But Hunt and Chicory are joined by Arther
O’Dwyer, Samantha’s husband, and John Brooder, a man who boasts killing “more Indians
than all of you combined.” Oh, and he
also has a thing for Samantha.
So the four of them set out for the caves; according to
Hunt, they are making a five-day trek in three days, and it starts to feel like
real-time after a while. It doesn’t help
that all the key parts of the journey, are pretty much all tired Western
clichés: the random attacks from outlaws, injuries requiring brutal surgery,
the stolen horses resulting in forced travel on foot, the obligatory (simulated
and off-screen) animal cruelty…it’s all here, and it all feels very, very
familiar.
Then comes the ending, which features a much talked-about
kill sequence that was picked as the #1 kill scene of 2015 by none other than
Fangoria magazine. As graphic as it is
(and as impressive as the practical effects work is—there is no CGI used at all
in this movie), its effectiveness is lost in a movie that tosses out jokes like
candy, and features characters that are too cool to be bothered with petty
little things like emotions (seriously, three characters watch a person get brutally
slaughtered, and none of them ever scream, or cry, or even talk about it
afterwards). For some, this "coolness" is the reason this film is praised, but for me, it just rang with a hollow emptiness.
There are two things that Bone Tomahawk does incredibly well: The first, is Kurt
Russell. He carries this picture on his
back. The other actors do admirable
jobs, as well, but this is Russell’s picture, and he picks up right where he
left off twenty years ago with Tombstone
Secondly, director S. Craig Zahler (who is at fault for the
tedious screenplay) proves that he’s at least adept at wringing tension from
simple scenarios. His Wild West feels
like a menacing landscape where violence can erupt at any given time,
especially as they get closer to the Troglodyte’s hideout. This is the kind of atmosphere that many
Westerns try to cultivate—after all, this is a time period known for its
violence—but very few succeed as admirably as Zahler does here. That at least helps to make up for some of his own downfalls.
In the end, this is a potentially great movie undone by an
identity crisis; it blends often idiotic dialogue played for laughs, with
sometimes shocking, graphic violence that’s meant to disturb. It tries to have its cake and eat it, too,
but the two extremes work in direct competition with each other, rather than in
tandem, making Bone Tomahawk the perfect example of a film that tries to do too
much, and in doing so, ends up doing not nearly enough.
RECAP: Director S. Craig Zahler gets massive mileage out of
Kurt Russell’s amazing performance, and also wrings as much tension as possible
out of the slow-burn story. However,
he’s compromised by his own screenplay, which frequently goes for laughs that
contradict the otherwise intense atmosphere.
There’s also a very fine-line between a “slow-burn” story, and a boring
one, and this one conveniently falls into the latter category. Aside from the genre blendings, there's really nothing original on display here, either, with a rather familiar Western story giving way to a rather familiar horror tale in the finale. Worth a look for Kurt Russell fans, or those
that are into Westerns, but everyone else should approach with caution.
RATING: 5/10
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