Review of Diablo (2016) by Jsharbour — 30 Jun 2016

The movie lost me during the first scene when Scott Eastwood fired his 30-30 rifle and it had absolutely NO recoil. That's a powerful rifle, enough to make your shoulder sore with a couple shots. He was firing off capgun shots that were so pathetic that I was immediately yanked out of the story. In the opening scene! This travesty to the the Western genre was repeated several times. I finally gave up about a third of the way into the story. Another oddity that really just didn't make any sense was the inordinate amount of screen time given to tying the horse to trees and bushes. Seriously? If the director was going for some serious realism, he should have started with his ridiculous toy popguns, not waste screen time on the reins.

And then there's the dialog. Wow. The actual moment I turned off the movie was that awkward scene where Jackson rides up on a Chinese guy working on his wagon (I recognize the actor but can't recall his name). He very strangely says, "My wife has been kidnapped. I HAVE TO GET HER BACK!".

That was just weird. Was there a decision about whether to rescue her? As if, he decided he needed to rescue her, but wasn't sure until he vocalized it right at that moment? Just too weird...