Review of The Rider (2018) by Grantd243 — 06 Jun 2018

I didn't know a whole lot about The Rider as I walked into the cinema to see it. I didn't watch a trailer for it, and I didn't read anything about it beforehand. All I had seen was the poster for it that my local indie theater had out in the lobby, which claimed that it had won several Spirit awards.

From the poster, all I really gathered is that it was about a cowboy. I didn't know that it was loosely based on a true story, or that the people from that true story played themselves in the film, or that it was directed by a Chinese filmmaker.

And I'm glad that I didn't. If I had never found out that the people from the real life story played themselves in this film (which I found out shortly after watching it), I would have continued to think that regular actors were in this film.

The acting by the main family, and the others involved, is very, very good considering they aren't actors. They're just people that lived an interesting story. Very impressive. The Rider is a Western, but not in the traditional sense.

There is no action, there is no grand adventure, but there is, in a sense, a journey. The film begins shortly after Brady gets injured in a rodeo accident. It shows his road to recovery, and everything he has to deal with.

It shows how he deals with the prospect of having to give up the only thing he's ever really done, and how heartbreaking the that can be for someone. It's a story that is fairly balanced between hopefulness and sadness, with a little hint of happiness.

The only real problem I have with The Rider is that the first third of the film didn't hook me at all. I was starting to lose some interest by the time the second act rolled around, but then it hooked me, and it hooked me hard.

I was at full attention for the remainder of the film. But, the first act is still fairly weak, which brought my final score of the film down from the 9.0 or so it probably would have gotten otherwise.

The cinematography in this film is bloody excellent. The director made sure to insert various scenic shots throughout the film, all of which are beautiful and really cement in your mind that this is a Western film.

Overall, I think that The Rider is going to go down as one of my favorite films of the year. I look forward to watching it again in the future.