Blackthorn Review: Butch & Sundance Sequel You Never Knew You Wanted

rating: 3

There are certain genres that, whilst once being the staples of cinema, seem to have fallen off the radar in recent decades. Top of that list is surely the western. In many ways it is the archetypal American genre, harking back to the ideas of the frontier and westering that are ingrained in American national identity. The western showcased new technologies like Technicolour and Widescreen, the vastness of the American landscape tailor made for the medium. But it didn€™t stand the test of time, factors such as the popularity of the road movie, in many ways a modernisation of the Western, conspiring to consign it to the Hollywood graveyard. In recent years however there€™s been something of resurgence. As well as the remakes of 3:10 to Yuma and True Grit, we had The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, as well as No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood, which riffed off the genre and were among the very best films released in their respective years of release. Continuing in this vein is Blackthorn, which takes as its inspiration the cinematic classic Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid. The story goes that after escaping to South America, Butch and Sundance died in a gunfight with the Bolivian military. However, Blackthorn imagines that Butch didn€™t die in the gunfight, and is living out his life in isolation and anonymity, under the name James Blackthorn, raising horses to sell on to American breeders. However, when trying to return to America, Blackthorn becomes aligned with a Spanish robber making them targets for gangs and lawmen alike, and threatening to reveal Blackthorn€™s true identity. Sam Shepherd strikes an enigmatic tone as Blackthorn / Butch, perfectly in keeping with the original character. His face is perfect for the setting, beautifully weathered and ruddy, and his voice crackles like old vinyl. Shepherd sings a lot of the songs on the soundtrack too, lending an air of verisimilitude to the proceedings. His standout performance overshadows the rest of the cast, unsurprisingly. However, the real problem with Blackthorn is that, whilst operating within the confines of a genre, it refuses to adhere to the best features of that genre. Westerns are typically slow, meditative, existential even, focussing on the sheer power and impact of the landscape, allowing them to act as characters in and of themselves almost, interacting with the other characters in the narrative. The cinematography therefore is crucial €“ think of Roger Deakins€™ work in the aforementioned True Grit and The Assassination of Jesse James..., the colours are so rich and textured, and lighting so deft and painterly, the landscapes so deep and beguiling. Blackthorn, however, is far too flat. The vistas are often spectacular, the scenes in the South American salt flats specifically, but the cinematography does nothing to enhance what€™s being presented, which is a crying shame. Similarly, and this may sound like a strange complaint, but there is far too much dialogue and exposition on show here. The writing is frequently clunky and plodding. Also, multiple languages are used throughout, and the film insists on informing you of what language is being used through the subtitles, which destroys any semblance of realism that has been created without revealing the narrative significance of why James Blackthorn can speak multiple languages. Flashbacks are employed frequently to provide a sense of structure and play on the idea that we€™ve seen this character before, but they add nothing to the narrative and could be discarded completely. There is so much history to that character and the Western genre which they could have mined far more successfully, rather than writing on a blank slate as seems to have been done here. There€™s some interesting things on display in Blackthorn, some interesting ideas, a good plot and great performances, but what it proves above all is how great the old Westerns are, which you imagine wasn€™t the intention of director Mateo Gil.