Review of Slow West (2015) by Quincytheodore — 26 Nov 2015

A display of contrasting moral and deceptively funny journey to the west.

Slow West is a very humble and honest title, the movie delivers exactly that, a road trip in the wild west with an innocent man, a bounty hunter and all sort of outlaws. The pace has a resemblance to Tarantino’s movie, surprisingly Inglorious Basterds not Django Unchained. It has a deliberate screenplay that focuses on few characters at a time and calmly set the tone for western thriller.

Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a man searching for his lost love. Alone in the cruel western frontier, he immediately crosses path with Silas (Michael Fassbender). Silas has been exposed to the way of the gun for too long and he's pretty sarcastic about Jay's quest.

Nevertheless, he takes a sum of money for protection and the two ride off to west while meeting unsavory characters at every stop. These two leads produce strange buddy chemistry due the contrast in personalities. Viewers would easily be sympathetic to the worn out Silas and the incredibly optimistic Jay.

The pacing and screenplay are splendid, it's admittedly not fast, yet it introduces the sequences with laid back attitude. This is a very refined approach, since there are heavy themes like murder or abandonment in evidently lighthearted manner. However, the movie never becomes too melodramatic or theatrical, keeping a very accessible tone, down to its darkest scenes.

It's unequivocally good how it even maintains some nifty humor along the way. From the proverbial and literal salt on the wound to some near slapstick moments, they never seem to deter the seriousness. In fact it goes hand in hand with the rather brutal tendency, in which there's a plenty of it here, glorious gunslinger action and all that chaotic blood, this is still the wild western frontier.

Slow West is the type of movie one can pick up and be immersed in the journey. It's an indication of how sophisticated the production is, delivering heavy subjects and still able to create satire and adoration for the characters.