Review of Bone Tomahawk (2015) by Jingerjake — 22 Feb 2016

Full disclosure: this is in fact a horror film. Not a thriller and only a dabble in suspense, but fully delved horror.

Zahler's direction is outstanding! With the combination of fine cinematography, this is perhaps just as, if not more beautiful than the competing fine Western of 2015, Slow West. Russell, Wilson, and Fox perform to the best of their abilities with Jenkins delivering what may be the best work in his career. The four named actors carry this story on horseback and foot, not for a moment letting their grip fail. Other performances, namely those of Simmons and whomever played the god-awful accomplice to the opening scene, fail to match the work done by their surrounding party. However, it's not so terrible that it hinders the film. Actually, the opening scene was quite hindered by the actor whom I care not to discover. Anyhow, the overall professional work is just that, top-notch and quite obviously professional. For these reasons I can confidently name Bone Tomahawk an extraordinary film.

However, it is my only complaint (though I accept that I am simply not the target audience of such a genre) that the violence is overly indulged. Being a medic for the United States military, I have seen enough gruesome detail to find entertainment in the excessive depiction. The brutality is mixed well in the execution of the overall product, but I find such torture porn to be deemed of a lesser class professionally. You can get the darkest and most brutal of points across without depicting every detail. I know there are many opposing opinions on the matter, so such is just that: my opinion.

It is nonetheless an excellent work of film and an exciting story. I simply would've loved to see how much I could've loved this film had it been more hesitant to lay so much blood and gore on camera.