Review of Gunslinger's Revenge (1998) by Alan H — 11 Jun 2015

I was with this movie for about the first 35-40 minutes, and wanted to like it. The box cover makes it look like David Bowie is the lead, but the narrator is actually a boy whose father is a white doctor and mother is the daughter of an Native American Chief (I'm not sure how plausible this is, but the film handles it in a matter-of-fact way) . We're introduced to some interesting character moments. Harvey Keitel is also credible as the grandfather with a criminal past.

Then the David Bowie bounty hunter shows up for Keitel: I like Bowie - and he seems to be playing this in the way the character was conceived, but after this point, the story didn't feel realistic anymore. He dresses colorfully and has three henchmen/accomplices that seem more subtly suited to a Tarantino film. He kills a character for almost no reason - just to show he's bad -and it feels like something out of TV Tropes. (And we see no funeral or closure for that character by end.).

The ending is a little unexpected, but I felt the movie had so much more potential. I wanted the antagonist to be as textured as the family, perhaps see more interaction from the other townspeople and the Native Americans. I didn't expect this to be like a Robert Altman ensemble film, but it set up many interesting characters, and then got pulled into showcasing an eccentric villain.

Also, I didn't mind the modern music until the end, when the credits had almost a techno-dance song.