This is a beautifully constructed piece of cinema, that follows a war weary soldier with a brutal past, forced to escort his nemesis across the country to his ancestral homeland before he dies. Like all westerns this sits in the conflict that exists between old and new, tradition and progress. There’s a lot in the story that goes unsaid, sitting in the silences between things. In the end actions speak louder than words, as Christian Bale’s gruff Captain slowly comes to see his charge as an honourable man. They’re both soldiers who have done horrible things. They both carry the emotional and physical scars. Of all the films Scott Cooper has directed there isn’t one that’s not worth seeing. This is not exception.
Darrin // Nightingale 