[DVD Review R2] HORSEMEN
I ran the trailer for Horsemen last week, which was the first that I had heard about this movie, and at the time I thought it looked pretty good. So when a copy of the movie, which is released on DVD today, landed on my doormat I was quite pleased as the trailer made it look like my kind of thing.
But how does the movie compare to the trailer?
Horsemen tells the story of Police Detective Aidan Breslin, who has distanced himself from his two sons since the untimely death of his wife. Suddenly finding himself thrust into an investigation into a series of grisly murders, he slowly comes to the realisation that there is a connection between himself and the suspects who are commiting these murders which are seemingly based on the Biblical prophecies of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Now, it has to be said that Dennis Quaid, who plays the role of Aidan Breslin, is the best thing about this movie. His weariness and hurt is palpable as he tries to find some way to reconnect with his children while dealing with his grief and solving the case that seems to be plaguing him and the city. There are moments when his entire soul are pouring out of his eyes and it really does show what a great actor he is.
Unfortunately, the movie itself is a bit of a let down. For gorehounds, the murders commited on screen are pretty grusome and, at the begining anyway, there is a sense of dread following behind Breslin from his introduction onwards.
But then the story hits the midway point and it all seems to start to deflate a little. The people who are perpetrating the murders don’t really seem to have any reason for what they are doing, and while that might have been the point that director Jonas Åkerlund (who makes his directorial debut with this movie) and writer Dave Callaham (who was also responsible for the screenplays and stories of Doom and The Expendables) were striving for there is no explanation to back this up and the whole final act of the movie has less effect than a balloon popping during a thunderstorm.
Yep, it’s a blink and you’ll miss it ending – which in fact I did! I had to rewind it twice as I was sure I’d missed something and that I’d fallen asleep before the real ending of the movie. Unfortunately, I hadn’t and the movie kind of just fizzles out without presenting the viewer with a real ending, which is a shame as for the most part it was an interesting watch.
With a better ending, this could have been a very good movie in the vein of Se7en (which it takes quite a bit of inspiration from) but, as it is, it’s a bit of a disappointment.
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3 Responses to “[DVD Review R2] HORSEMEN”
I’ve had quite a fair few reliable folk recommend this to me but, I have to say, when it comes to schlock or straight to DVD stuff I tend to stick closely to your opinion as we’re quite aligned in that genre.
So I think I’m going to give this a miss or wait till it turns up on Film4 during their next “FrightFest” season!
Like I said, it opened quite well and I thought it was looking pretty good and then….nothing! It just fizzled out and ended so abruptly that I honestly did think I had missed something.
It’s not “terrible” but if I bought it I’d be pretty annoyed, y’know?
Yeah, I had that with The Crippled Masters.
You watch the youtube trailer on that and think to yourself “Man, that’s got to be the most thoroughly unbelievable movie I have ever seen? It’s like a Farrelly Brothers version of Kill Bill, done in the style of a Shaw Brothers movie!”
And then you watch the actual film and…. you know… not so much!
Ha Ha
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