The Old Way
"The Old Way" is an enjoyable watch featuring a excellent performance from Ryan Kiera Armstrong
Nicolas Cage's new film's titled "The Old Way," says all you need to know about the film. It's a retread of the classic western tale of revenge, but despite it not breaking much new ground, the film is an enjoyable watch.
Colton Briggs (Cage) is a baaaaad man. Renowned for his abilities with a six-shooter and ease with putting a man in his grave, Briggs isn't a guy you want to meet on the street. But that was years ago. Now he's a settled man with his wife Ruth (Kerry Knuppe) and daughter Brooke (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) running a mercantile store, his six-shooter just a memory. But the past has a nasty way of not forgetting.
With Briggs and Brooke in town, a gang led by McCallister (Noah Le Gros) visits his home and finds Ruth alone. After causing harm to Ruth, McCallister finds a saddle belonging to the outlaw, and she warns him, "you boys have woke up the devil" before she takes her last breath.
Returning home, Briggs finds U.S. Marshalls at his home and discovers his wife has been murdered with her murderer, leaving an ominous message for him written in blood. He enlists his daughter Brooke and hits the trail to find the killers and bring them to justice – Colton Briggs's idea of justice.
Along the way, Brooke asks to learn to shoot, and Briggs happily obliges. Turns out she not only inherited her father's stoic nature but also his skill with the steel and that will come into play when the duo catches up with McCallister and his gang in Santa Rose. McCallister has set the stage where Briggs will have to decide – kill the man who killed his wife or let McCallister enact his revenge on him.
Despite its problems, "The Old Way" is still fun. It surprisingly has more heart than I thought it would and blends in some funny moments to accent the building tension. In the end, it's the predictability that holds it back. You'll see where the film is going from the tragic moment with his wife, so it would have been nice to have something unpredictable happen, but the filmmakers stayed on the path limited to what the film could ultimately be.
Cage gives a solid performance in the lead role, but it's Armstrong who steals the show. Her screen presence more than matches Cage's and her portrayal of Brooke is fantastic. She's a young actress I've been impressed with so far and believe will have long successful career.
I was also delighted to see Clint Howard as Eustice, a member of McCallister's gang. I've been a lifelong Howard fan, so I'm excited whenever I see him on the screen in something new. Le Gros does a great job of being a baddie you love to hate. I would have liked to see more of him and Cage together, playing a closer game of cat and mouse.
"The Old Way" features an excellent performance from Ryan Kiera Armstrong but falls short of carving a place for itself in the western film landscape.