The Raw Frontier of Bone Tomahawk

 

 

Here we were, all ready for a Kurt Russell western with December’s Hateful Eight, when out of the blue we get Russell in another one – and when I hear you’ve got a western that throws in a strong dose of horror elements, you’ve definitely got my attention. 

 

Bone Tomahawk is the first film directed by screenwriter S. Craig Zahler, and it’s a hell of a thing – made for less than $2 million, Zahler’s managed the near impossible feat of realizing a tough-sell period genre with a pretty amazing cast – Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson (currently on TV’s Fargo), Matthew Fox and the great Richard Jenkins, among many others. 

 

In the small frontier town of Bright Hope, Wilson is recuperating from a leg injury, being cared for by his wife, Lili Simmons (Banshee), while the town Sheriff (Russell) has apprehended a suspected brigand. One night, intruders brutally attack the town, abducting Russell’s deputy and Simmons. Bone Tomahawk uses The Searchers as a launching point, with Russell, Wilson, Fox and Jenkins setting out to rescue the captives. The peril comes by way of The 13^th Warrior, when we learn that the abductees have been taken by a clan of cave-dwelling, Native American cannibals. It’s a pretty awesome premise, and Zahler generously devotes plenty of time to his characters, giving them abundant wry dialogue, particularly Richard Jenkins, who steals the picture as Russell’s aging “backup deputy,” a man without a filter and no shortage of opinions. He makes a fantastic counterpoint to the grim determination of the other characters. 

 

The problem is Zahler’s a little too generous when it comes to time. The stupendous concept and casting are undermined by a frustrating deficit of pacing. The film ambles along at an incredibly laconic pace. It grabs you by the lapels in the opening scene and has a soberingly intense third act – but in between, things dawdle and meander and cry out for a substantial rewrite. At 132 minutes, the film is easily 40 minutes too long. A stumbling block that prevents Bone Tomahawk from finding the classic cult status it very nearly attains. A judicious rewrite and tighter editing and people would not be able to stop talking about this film. Zahler really knows his western tropes, and has a fondness for eighties cinema that reveals itself with some affectionate cameos by Sean Young and Michael Paré, which sadly do nothing to advance the story and end up feeling more like stunt casting. Zahn McClarnon (also in Fargo with Wilson) makes a much stronger impression in his brief role. 

 

The casting saves this picture. Patrick Wilson has simply been awesome in everything he’s been in lately, and he’s the real protagonist of this movie, despite an immobilizing physcial handicap, turning in a heartfelt, painfully good perfromance. You feel tremendous empathy for his character. Russell’s Sheriff is likewise fantastic, a classic lawman of capable determination. Between these two and the humor peppered by Richard Jenkins, Matthew Fox ends up seeming like an extraneous character. 

 

But as much as the plodding pace threatens to derail things, Zahler delivers a finale that’s not likely to ever be forgotten by anyone who hangs in there. The troglodyte tribe is a truly horrifying menace, and stand warned – there are acts of violence depicted in that cave that are so brutal and disturbing, the bar has now been raised to a new level that’s right through the ceiling. It’s a hand-in-your-mouth third act that’s brutal, nightmarish and flat-out suspenseful. 

 

In addition to a limited theatrical release, Bone Tomahawk is available OnDemand and on Amazon Instant Video – and at the end of the day, if Zahler can will this kind of package together and make a movie this good this cheaply, it deserves to be seen as a win. He’s achieved the nearly impossible, and unleashed a scene that makeup artists will be trying to out-carnage for years to come. In Bone Tomahawk, the Western is alive and kicking – just wished it kicked a might faster.