Review of Blackthorn (2011) by Cameron J — 26 Oct 2011

For being a sequel to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, I think Blacktorn has gotten little attention. Blackthorn plays off of the "what if" that Butch and Sundance were NOT killed in a standoff in the South American country of Bolivia in 1908 and Butch actually lived to "tell about the tale" many years later.

Played in 1908 by Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau (The Game of Thrones, Wimbledon) and Padraic Delaney (The Tudors, Eden), the pair are still outlaws in Argentina before fleeing and getting into trouble in Bolivia.

They are still accompanied by their lady love until she departs after discovering she is pregnant by one of them. Butch and Sundance come into trouble soon after and eventually Butch is all that remains of the horseriding trio.

All of this is actually told in flashback, as the gist of the movie centers on Sam Shepard (Black Hawk Down, The Right Stuff, The Notebook) as an elder Butch who decides to "retire" (again) and return to North America but he soon becomes sidetracked with the arrival of "the Spaniard" (Eduardo Noriega - Vantage Point, Open Your Eyes) after the pair of them have a dust-up in the middle of the road and they find themselves horse-less.

The movie is somewhat leisurely paced even though it has a fair-share of shoot-outs ... and it becomes a story of Butch doing what he believes to be right for a fellow man who has been wronged. Because of the Spaniard, the pair is persued by a band of mine-owning brothers (and their posse) .

.. and the movie is always the "good" staying one steap ahead of the "bad". Stephen Rea (The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire) shows us as a bouty hunter/lawman who was hot-on-the-trail of Butch and Sundance "back in the day" as he is brought in to verify wheter or not Butch and Sundance were indeed killed back in 1908 -- as the film allows this to be a mystery widely accepted by the public -- Butch had changed his name to Mr.

Blackthorn (hence the title). I found this to be a fine film although not the best thing I have seen even recently. I found nothing to be wrong with it and the scenery of Bolivia (if it was filmed there) to be absolutely beautiful.

I enjoyed the time-period piece being set in a developing nation as if afforded me a glimpse into a locale I know little about. Blackthorn hasn't gotten a whole lot of recognition for being a sequel to a much-talked-about/highly recognizable film .

.. which is kind of surprising. Perhaps the audience just isn't there for a "western" set in Bolivia as there is a fair share of subtitles (something else I appreciated as the filmmakers tried to keep most of this authentic).

This is a western film and a slight character study as this Butch is a bit more pensive than he was in his earlier film. Shepard does a fine job as an aged outlaw who has tried to atone for his reckless ways in the past.

I LIKED Blackthorn ... but I am not overly passionate about it.