Gallowwalkers (2012)

Good movie but grossly overrated

A Masterpiece!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I suppose it had to happen eventually. "Gallowwalkers" probably takes the prize as the very first ISIS inspired, supernatural horror Western. I mean, there were beheadings all over the place which at one point made it seem like that's all the story was going to be about.With it's low IMDb rating and scathing reviews, I can't say that the film I watched was all bad, but it wasn't that good either. I will say though, that it made effective use of some excellent visuals with the characters. The zombie looking guy with the scarring all over his face and body was the most interesting, but darned if I could figure out who he was as the story progressed. And then he wasn't around for very long anyway.I got the main gist of the story as Wesley Snipes's character was on a mission of revenge for the brutal rape of his adopted sister Sueno (Alyssa Pridham), but the non-linear story telling style combined with the idea that Aman (Snipes) was out to kill the five bad guys a second time around made it all a little hard to follow. I guess it doesn't really matter because I'm starting to forget about the story already anyway.One thing I had to check out though was who had the unenviable task of taking on the role of Skullbucket. It looked like the guy could have been a contender at the next WrestleMania, and wouldn't you know it, it turned out to be Diamond Dallas Page! I guess that doesn't mean anything if you're not a wrestling fan, but even if you are, there's no way to recognize him under that, what was it? It must have been a skull bucket.

Cowboy Cardinal? This is a grab bag of weird.You weapons... you will not need them.This movie elongates all dialog and scenes needlessly.That was unnecessary.Someone is obsessed with long blonde hair.I feel like a worse person for having watched the whole thing, but I don't blame Wesley -- he's getting back into it.

Synopsis: In an arid wasteland created by too many lacklustre Hollywood mash-ups, critics think they've put the final stake in Wesley Snipe's career, but surprisingly it returns from the dead and feasts on spaghetti using Leone and Joderowsky's silver spoon.Verdict: Ambitious, imaginative and visually impressive film that warrants obvious comparison (Leone), but seems more indebted to El Topo's art direction and non-linear, Gothic, psychedelic spaghetti westerns like Matalo! and Django Kill, if You Live, Shoot! Personally, I enjoy this sort of thing, but I can see why many do not; it is brazenly uncommercial and unconventional (a brave choice at this point in Snipe's career decline), and that's part of its appeal.Several reviews have complained about the incoherent (or completely lacking) plot, but being a fan of spaghetti westerns, I've become accustomed to going along with the film's visuals - like following a good jazz number. I found the plot to be simplistic and classic western: man seeks revenge, flashbacks ensue, he gets revenge and - here's the twist - the people he kills come back from the grave ... so man seeks young apprentice to help him kill them once again.To some degree, I agree with the negative reviews. I did find it a frustrating and uneven watch. I couldn't help but think that a much better film was possible. Several scenes are cut in a manner that implies not enough footage was shot (made all the more infuriating by the fact that most of the film is extremely well photographed, making excellent use of the Namibian locations). There's also some reliance on rather cheap looking CGI - although the removal of heads and spinal columns was quite impressive. The voice-over narration - always problematic - sounds like a bad advert for men's cologne. The narration is made even worse by two narrators, possibly a necessity stemming from Snipe's three-year prison sentence in 2010 for failure to file income tax returns (Gallowwalkers was shot just before Snipes went to prison).The music, so important to any spaghetti western, is also disappointing, veering from more appropriate classical to some sort of alt-rock. Lastly, the climatic journey into the "spirit world" looks like it was shot in an underground parking lot. After that, an incongruous animated credit sequence rolls by, suggesting Gallowwalkers wants to position itself with the postmodern, ironic works of Rodriguez and Tarantino. Clearly, it should have remained true to its spaghetti western DNA.

A zombie western shot in the Namibian desert sounds like a hoot, but GALLOWWALKERS is something of a mixed bag when it comes to filmed entertainment. It may be due to the troubled waters behind the scenes, which saw Snipes arrested for tax evasion and jailed for three years. Not good news when your star is sent to prison halfway through filming.Still, it could have been a lot worse and GALLOWWALKERS does have stuff going for it. The story is pretty unique, featuring a cursed gunslinger (Snipes on strong, stylish form) whose victims always come back from the dead to be killed a second time around. The zombie stuff is handled fairly well, but the production values are weak with a distinctive B-movie look and feel to the whole thing.A solid turn from Snipes helps to anchor things, and there's enough blood 'n' guts for the horror crowd to stay tuned in. But in the end this has to go down as a failure, purely because it's completely forgettable as a film with little rewatchability. A failure that tries hard, but still a failure nonetheless.