"The Duel" Fails To Revive The Western

The Duel (2016)

Rated R

Starring Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Alice Braga

Directed by Kieran Darcy-Smith

The Story:

Mexicans are turning up dead in the Rio Grande, and the governor sends a Texas Ranger (Hemsworth) to the town of Helena to investigate a local named Abraham (Harrelson) who may have something to do with it.

The movie starts out with a flashback to discover that Abraham had indeed killed our Ranger's father years earlier.

That is to add yet another layer of intrigue and tension to the story.

Except it didn't.

It actually all started to become a bit tedious and dull once they were in the town, and Abraham holds sway over the entire town in an almost cult-like atmosphere.

He begins to charm Marisol (Braga), the lovely wife of our main character.

So you can see where it's all going.

I accidentally hit the chapter skip button when I attempted to pause the movie about an hour into it.

Maybe less.

Couldn't tell you.

I went back a few chapters, and nothing looked familiar or memorable.

That's when I decided I probably didn't care to see how the film ended, though I had a pretty good suspicion.

Points for making a western and trying to keep the genre alive.

Negative points for making a movie I really didn't care to see how it ended, and seemingly unremarkable after an interesting start.

Final Grade: D+