Forsaken 2015

     Reverend Samuel Clayton is surprised to see his son John Henry Clayton return for a visit.  John Henry fought in the Civil War and he has stayed away even though the war is over.  John Henry’s mother has passed away and he didn’t know this.  She had hoped to see him again before she died.  There is a local gang hired by James McCurdy to terrorize the town.  McCurdy wants to run out the farmers and buy up their land.  He doesn’t care what he has to do to get the property.  The gang starts to take their frustrations out on John Henry’s face because he’s not carrying a gun.  His reputation as a fearless quick-draw killer has drawn their attention.

     This film is interesting and has a lot of the same themes of much earlier westerns.  It’s nice to some new westerns coming to film.  I think some of the dialog is not as people talked in 1870?  Of course, there has to be tension and conflict between the Reverend and his son.  3* (This movie is OK)

90 min, Action directed by Jon Cassar with Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, Demi Moore, Lex Cassar, Graeme Black, Dave Trimble, Joe Norman Shaw, Brian Cox, Chris Ippolito, Dylan Smith, Landon Liboiron, Michael Mitchell, Justin Michael Carriere. 

Note:  Imdb 6.3 out of 10, 43% critic 87% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, The Guardian 3*, Metacritic 55 out of 100 with 17 critics 7.3 out of 10 with 11 reviews, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 1028 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed on the CL Ranch, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  Discovery Channel’s Klondike of 2014 was also filmed at CL Ranch.  The town was quickly transformed from a booming city of 1890 for Klondike to a small town of the wild west of 1870 for Forsaken.  John Henry is the real name of Doc Holliday.  Kiefer Sutherland wanted to make a film with his father and he asked writer Brian Mirman to write a western story for them.  Kiefer said the time during filming was the longest period he has spent with his father.  There is another film with the same title from 2005.