I expected more from Walter Hill. He's directed movies that give me a boner at their mere mention: The Warriors, Streets of Fire, 48 Hrs., Last Man Standing, and Trespass, as well as Undisputed, Johnny Handsome, and Red Heat. These movies are all stylish pictures with wonderful action scenes and a sense of cinematic scope. However, even with a script from Apocalypse Now/Conan the Barbarian scribe John Milius, this movie fucking draaaaaaags.
The main problem is the focus on the two least compelling characters in the story, two soldiers who were singled out by Geronimo, for whatever reason. While you have Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, and Wes Studi (as Geronimo) running around being badass, the two lame leads (young Damon doesn't have "it" yet and Patric looks bored) spend their time walking around the desert, shooting ruffians and questioning the morality of their leaders. Huge portions of this film are just boring crap as a result. This is a shame, not only considering the talent involved, but also because of the quality of the scenes with the supporting players. One simple farewell scene between Hackman and Duvall, for example, graps Hill's trademark tough-as-nails male camaraderie to the T, and is one of the films highlights. Scenes like that make the film worth watching, but only by traversing large chunks of pretty worthless western scenes.
Strictly for aficionados of Hill, Milius, or the revisionist western drama; yes, in this one the "white-eyes" are the villains, but, man, if only they didn't get so much motherfuckin screen time (except for Robert Duvall and the HACKMAN).
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