‘The Old Way’ Review
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Noah Le Gros, Kerry Knuppe, Shiloh Fernandez, Nick Searcy, Abraham Benrubi, Clint Howard | Written by Carl W. Lucas | Directed by Brett Donowho
Incredible as it may seem, this is Nicolas Cage’s first western, although he clearly enjoyed shooting it, because he’s already done another one (Butcher’s Crossing). Essentially a knock-off version of True Grit, The Old Way isn’t especially overwhelming in terms of plot and direction, but it’s eminently watchable all the same, thanks to strong onscreen chemistry between Cage and young co-star Ryan Kiera Armstrong.
The film begins with a prologue sequence, in which grizzled gun-for-hire Colton Briggs (Cage, sporting a most excellent moustache) shoots and kills almost everyone during an attempted hanging, including the man he was supposed to be rescuing in the first place. Twenty years later, Briggs (now sadly sans moustache) has hung up his guns in favour of raising his young daughter Brooke (Armstrong) with his wife Ruth (Kerry Knuppe) as a shopkeeper in rural Wyoming. But when the hanging victim’s now grown-up son (James McAllister) appears in town, he exacts a bloody retribution that sets Briggs on the revenge trail, with Brooke by his side.
Nicolas Cage performances can broadly be divided into three categories. There’s Good Cage (e.g. Leaving Las Vegas), where he’s really putting the effort in, Bad Cage (where he puts in no effort whatsoever) and Good Bad Cage (e.g. The Wicker Man), where his wildly over-the-top performances are the entire reason to see the movie, no matter how terrible it is. Sadly for fans of truly insane Cage performances, he essentially reigns in his usual excesses for The Old Way, but it’s a solid enough performance all the same.
If anything, Cage’s performance is extremely generous, because it allows young Ryan Kiera Armstrong to really shine. Accordingly, she’s terrific as Brooke, striking an immediately appealing rapport with Cage that makes their every interaction a pleasure to watch. It might not be as quite good as Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, but it’s a pretty decent approximation.
The script isn’t all that interested in character development (the villains are extremely one-note), but it does explore an intriguing streak of darkness, as their conversations gradually reveal that Brooke is very much her father’s daughter. On that note, the dialogue is consistently interesting, even if it never quite hits the heights you’re hoping for.
In fairness, there are a number of great individual scenes, particularly when Colton and Brooke encounter the Marshal (Nick Searcy) in pursuit of their adversary, after he and his men have been on the wrong end of an ambush. Similarly, Armstrong has a scene-stealing sequence early on, when a grubby-looking customer in Colton’s store helps himself to some jelly beans when he thinks no one’s looking.
Donowho’s direction throughout is competent, but largely uninspired, especially when it comes to the staging of the expected shoot-out sequences. The villains are distinctive enough to warrant decent individual death scenes, but Donowho’s only really interested in the final showdown, so the other members of the gang meet fairly dull ends, at least as far as genre expectations are concerned.
On a similar note, the film ends exactly the way you’re expecting, though it is at least tonally consistent and steers clear of cheap sentimentality. In short, this might not be perfect, but it’s enjoyable enough to make you actively look forward to the prospect of more Nicolas Cage westerns. Bring on Butcher’s Crossing.
