If, like me, you believe you’ve
encountered the proper source of justification as to why you believe every
single indie western film in existence or potential existence should be hunted relentlessly
until captured and then slaughtered with unyielding, gory, belligerent force, I
have not a pleading request or strong recommendation for you, but a profound
demand: do whatever is possible within the boundaries of legality and morality
to obtain three dollars, march over to the Google Play Store, search “Shadowheart”
in using the conveniently placed search bar, and rent this beauty for a twenty
four hour period. Given that I barely stumbled through eighteen minutes of the
previous indie-western film I watched before nearly dying of intellectual and
creative starvation, I was both desperately inclined to approach this film with
an extremely bias caution and uncertainty in fear that again I would be slapped
in the face by dirty, hairy malodorous hand that had just been submerged in cow
turds and public garbage. However, at the same time, I was so desperate to
remove the nauseating taste of my previous experience from my mouth that I also
approached the film with high hopes and a forgiving conscience. Luckily, the
combination of these factors lead to a tone of neutralization that allowed me
to enjoy this film vividly, just as it was presented, and without horrific
flashbacks of irrelevant content. That established, I will say that there were
certainly several elements present in this film that filled me with a sense of
disquietude at the beginning of the film. However, ultimately, every aspect of
the script and production that could notably have used more attention or
correction is some way or form was far outweighed by the positive qualities of
the production; while admittedly, this isn’t the most ingenious or beautifully
crafted western master piece that has ever been unleashed for public
interaction, it was certainly a far cry from the very worst in almost every
way, and I’ll be absolutely certain to put a stress on these factors when I
describe them, for I know I’m certain to face heated opposition and arrogant blasphemy
from some of those who refuse to respect opinions they do not entirely agree
with; I’m almost dead certain such opposition exists, hostile or not, given the
opinions I observed in the comments section of the “Shadowheart” trailer on YouTube
and in the reviews section of IMDB, where no one seemed to enjoy this film as
thoroughly as I did (once again, this may have been due to the desperation I
faced after having witnessed the first eighteen excruciatingly disappointing minutes
of the previous indie western I reviewed, but even still, there were certainly enough
positive aspects of this film to help it achieve higher than strictly a 4.6).
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| You already hate him. |
In order to establish that I am
indeed not bias towards any given group for any unjust or unlawful cause, I
will start by admitting that this film indeed did suffer from several faults
that should have been recognized as in need of attention and development.
However, none of these hinder or impede the film to such an extent that it is
not worthy of the viewers’ attention throughout the entirety of its
progression. In fact, most of the problems I faced with this film were simply clichés,
identical to criticisms applied to countless Westerns from years past, or so I
believe, for I am not the most experienced veteran on the field of Westerns, or
any genre for that matter. The most questionable errors that the screen play
possessed, at least, the only ones that I found to fit the label of “errors”,
would best be described as “minor plot-holes”; at some points of the film, it
seemed as though the destination was written before the journey, and, (warning:
metaphor approaching) as opposed to attending to it that the train approached
said destination at a comfortable and safe pace, the track seemed rushed out in
some places, which lead to a few instances of unsteadiness. For example, at
several points towards the middle of the film, the logic applied to the handling
of the antagonist was extremely questionable, and frankly, a bit stupid; this
application of questionable logic lead to the achieving of predictable occurrences,
which undoubtedly caused the story as a whole to fall short of the glory it may
have obtained otherwise, even with the clichés and predictability it possessed
in other instances unrelated to the use of failed logic. For having spent a
reasonable amount of time and effort developing every character, even if some
of these characters were not as intriguing as others, one would think that it
would be attended to that the actions of every character are developed and
applied in a realistic manner as to affect the plot with the same degree of
realism and logical comprehension. My next strongest criticism was the
protagonists mustache; seriously, after all the effort put into organizing
believable locations and beautifully developed western atmosphere, from horses
to restaurants, they took the most prominent character that everyone would be
inclined to focus on due to the structure of the story, grabbed his head and
tacked on a two cent mustache and beard that I could win from a gumball machine
at the bowling alley (in fact, I almost did that just the other day; that would
have made me feel pretty special knowing I had the exact same mustache as a
wild west hero). Excluding a few immensely minor details, these are pretty much
the only negative criticisms that stuck out to me, a fairly casual and inexperienced
western-film fan (I’ve seen about 7, including “Three Amigos”), and nothing
stood out in the movie as so infuriatingly disagreeable that I found myself
wishing the film would reach a closure.
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The legitimacy of this film's western standing has been
proven with horses and Native Americans. |
Although the script could have used
a little work here and there, especially with a few key moments regarding the buildup
of the already exposed and described antagonist, it certainly possessed enough
admirable qualities to make up for these moments, even if they too were a bit cliché.
The drama, comedy, romance, suspense and action/ adventure are all proportioned
appropriately, so the story flows evenly in that sense. The buildup of the
struggles that the protagonist faces was satisfactory; the cinematography did
an excellent job of reflecting the haunting recollections encountered by the
protagonist several times throughout the film. Both the script and almost all
of the actors do an excellent job of developing every character in a believable,
entertaining and unique fashion. The antagonist is not at all likable, his
motives are made fairly clear not long after he is introduced, and he is despicable
for realistic portrayals of malignance and benevolence. While a bit cheesy, the
Native American characters are not overly exaggerated in respect to foreign
nature, and there is not an embarrassingly profound stress placed on culture
unknown to the “white men” of the film, although the significant female Native
seems to speak English a bit too naturally at certain points. Personally, my
favorite supporting characters were two men who brought about a surprisingly
excellent sense of comedy relief and hilarity to the film; the way in which
they interacted with each other was not at all what one would expect to find in
such an environment as they were in, and in fact, seemed as though it would be
much more relevant in a modern comedy sitcom; even still, their petty bickering
and fairly fast-paced, humorous conversations seemed to fit right in with the
rest of the atmosphere, regardless of the fact that said atmosphere was
anything but humorous. AS stated above, the locations and western theme was
well attended to, and I couldn’t pinpoint any obvious errors regarding location
in any particular scene. All effects were pulled off in a reasonably satisfactory
manor; violence and gore were not relentlessly abused, although they were
certainly present, and, while not extreme or innovative in any sense, the
dynamic in emotion was satisfactory for the genre as well. Values of
Christianity and human life were proposed and approached in a fashion than I
was not fully expecting to find in a film of this genre, particularly on the
later account, and these values ultimately overshadowed the very slight faults
in the plot with a conflict and story that were reasonably realistic and
relatable in a moral and philosophical sense.
While probably not the best of its
genre, for an indie production, this film presented content that met my
expectations perfectly, and left me with an ending that, while a bit
questionable on a moral level at first, was ultimately understandable in a
realistic sense, for better or for worse. Seriously, if the only profound flaw
of a western film is a party-store mustache and beard, it’s certainly
justifiable to proclaim that, in comparison to my unforgivable experience with the
film “Bounty”, “Shadowheart” has scored itself enough merit to serve as the
redemption of my respect for neo-indie-western films. Despite what others may
say, I believe this film easily achieved a 7/10,
for providing me with the reasonable quality of wild-west entertainment I was
asking for.
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