Bone Tomahawk

A slow journey movie with excellently played characters. Kurt Russel was just made for this western, Fox is a convincing as the arrogant bastard and Wilson is a regular guy with a wife holed up in a cave full of Indian cannibals. The action is swift and when the action eventually comes toward the ending, it’s naturalistic and good and bloody. The butchery in the cave is unarguably the zenith of the movie. (08/12/2015)

Bone Tomahawk is broadly discussed and written about as a horror movie in a western setting or, conversely, a western that turns into a horror movie at the climax. This is a one-dimensional view, however, as S. Craig Zahler created an inventive revisionist western in his exceptionally polished debut. The new concept in his interpretation does not mean dirt, nihilism and rejection of heroism, which deconstructionist films like Unforgiven fall back on by default. Zahler brings forth a much more inventive, well-developed and original grasp of the iconic genre. The masterfully written film re-establishes the western for today’s cynical and enlightened times in that it conceives its iconic attributes with a sophisticated perspective, while concurrently updating its basic narrative formulas and ethos. Therefore, the Indians here are not savages, but rather in the figure of a professor they become a biting personification of the wrongs committed by white men, which goes beyond the cowboys not only in being familiar with nature and its wonders, but also with the breadth of knowledge, wit and intelligence. Similarly, the protagonist’s wife can be sarcastic, rational and intelligent, while adhering to the role of object and trophy. Heroism inevitably becomes synonymous with limitations, ignorance and stubbornness. The film’s most essential roles are played by troglodytes as anonymous monsters who defy rationality, returning danger, mystery and, mainly, an element of the strange to life on the edge of civilisation. Those are the ideal erratic, bestial savages like the Indians in the tales of the Wild West, before their traditional depiction took on the foul taste of genocide. As a result, Bone Tomahawk can place in the main female character’s mouth a memorable and eloquent line that provides scathing commentary on the machismo of the film’s men and, at the same time, serves as a heroic celebration of their tenacity and determination. (11/07/2016)

A mix of proper western atmosphere (the sounds of the prairie, the small town, the sets) with an uncompromising carnage that is so explicit you see it in mainstream films only every 5 years or so (last time in The Hills Have Eyes 2), because it goes far beyond the normal. S. Craig Zahler focuses mostly on the characters, their symbiosis with the wildlife and their interaction with each other. The script is utterly unpredictable until just before the finale, when it turns out to be a slaughter. Cut or speed up the first half, stretch out the second half and it would probably be a bit more entertaining. (24/04/2016)

Rough, raw, brutal and uncompromising and yet based mainly on the characters. And what will disappoint you even more is the unstyled and rushed ending, which lacks a proper finale and which turns away from those characters. The ending is simply too brief and quick considering how slow was in the first three quarters. (17/12/2015)

Kurt Russell did not shave after filming The Hateful Eight - he let his beard grow a little more and embarked on another western. Only he left the vast snow plains and replaced them with sun-hot dusty rocks, perhaps to warm his bones (and actually his scalp). I would have wished it on him even if he hadn't made a great film, but he did. A brilliantly narrated film with interesting characters that you really get attached to, which all the time just knocks, hints, deliberately doesn't show everything and relies mainly on dialogue, only to literally tear off at the end and sink the poor viewer chained to the sofa into it even more. A boldly original film. If you know The Stalking Moon and you liked it, do not hesitate to watch this one. (16/10/2016)