The Unholy Trinity
Western oater more of a grower than a shower.
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I liked Aussie director Richard Gray’s 2022 Western “Murder at Yellowstone City” well enough and had similarly amiable feelings about his latest oater “The Unholy Trinity” (in theaters beginning Friday, June 13).
It’s 1870s Montana and Henry Broadway (Brandon Lessard) is visiting his wrongfully condemned father Isaac (“Wings” alum Tim Daly) moments before his hanging. Isaac tasks Henry with finding and killing the man who framed him and tells him it’s the crooked Sheriff of a tiny town called Trinity.
Henry shows up armed in Trinity to accost Sherriff Gabriel Dove (Pierce Brosnan). Turns out the Sherriff with whom Isaac had beef is deceased and Gabriel is a good guy. Less of a good guy is St. Christopher (Samuel L. Jackson) - a former slave who aided Isaac in stealing a cache of gold and who’s willing step on anyone, anywhere, anytime to retrieve his riches.
History repeats itself and circumstances arise that leave Henry wrongfully accused of killing two of Trinity’s citizens. He has allies in Gabriel and Gabriel’s kindly wife Sarah (Veronica Ferres), but will they be enough to stop a lynch mob consisting of Gideon (Gianni Capaldi) and the Benton brothers Austin (Anthony J. Sharpe) and Butch (Beau Linnell)? This posse is also in pursuit of runaway squaw Running Cub (Q’orianka Kilcher), who they assume murdered the former Sheriff.
“The Unholy Trinity” as helmed by Gray and scripted by his fellow Aussie Lee Zachariah is a serviceable enough Western. Brosnan and Jackson can’t help but be immensely watchable and elevate the material at every turn. There are plenty of good gunfights and they get better the further the film goes.
Lessard is fine, but isn’t as charismatic as his counterparts and serves as the weak link of this titular “Trinity.” The movie is also only a tad over an hour and a half, but feels far longer.
If you’re looking for a flick to take your dad or grandpa to this Father’s Day you could do a whole helluva lot worse than “The Unholy Trinity.” If not, it’s safe to assume they’ll glom on to it themselves when it hits streaming here in a few months.