It's a very rare revenge flick that's willing to explore what can happen if the often ill-informed protagonists go off the rails in their quest. It's even rarer one that's actually willing to acknowledge that what starts out as a quest for righteous retribution can end up blighting innocent lives. Truth to tell, I've never seen a "revenge" film that goes nearly far enough in this direction for my liking; I'm still waiting to see the story of a revenger who goes off, accidentally kills completely the wrong people and then discovers his mistake when *their* furious loved ones track *him* down.
The Horseman isn't that ideal revenge movie, but it nevertheless gets points for its willingness to go into the territories of moral confusion previously explored by disturbing noirs like Memento and Irreversible. It also gets points for its willingness to show the squalid, despairing nature of a quest for revenge, a process in which the meting-out of "justice" is secondary, and the venting of the perpetrator's crushing grief and choking rage is primary. The lead playing the revenger brings out these elements beautifully, and manages his character's transitions from bewildered numbness to insane fury -- and finally to horrified desperation in the final act as he belatedly realizes what his antics have led to -- skilfully and convincingly. His performance, and this overall context for most of the film's brutal and graphic violence, puts The Horseman a cut above the "torture porn" genre of films like Saw and Hostel, to which I've seen it (unfairly) compared in some reviews here.
There were the makings, then, of a low-budget classic here. So why only a 6?
Unfortunately, the Horseman proves once again how hard it is to craft that all-important final act. The climactic encounter with the scummiest of the scum who'd originally been in our semi-hero's sights gets off to a promising start, but it drags through such a ridiculous number of reversals and increasingly over-the-top Feats of Superhuman Bloody-Mindedness from everyone involved that by its end it's more cartoonish than a pro wrestling match. This is a shame, but hopefully the director will be able to build on the good and steer away from the absurd in future efforts.
The Horseman isn't that ideal revenge movie, but it nevertheless gets points for its willingness to go into the territories of moral confusion previously explored by disturbing noirs like Memento and Irreversible. It also gets points for its willingness to show the squalid, despairing nature of a quest for revenge, a process in which the meting-out of "justice" is secondary, and the venting of the perpetrator's crushing grief and choking rage is primary. The lead playing the revenger brings out these elements beautifully, and manages his character's transitions from bewildered numbness to insane fury -- and finally to horrified desperation in the final act as he belatedly realizes what his antics have led to -- skilfully and convincingly. His performance, and this overall context for most of the film's brutal and graphic violence, puts The Horseman a cut above the "torture porn" genre of films like Saw and Hostel, to which I've seen it (unfairly) compared in some reviews here.
There were the makings, then, of a low-budget classic here. So why only a 6?
Unfortunately, the Horseman proves once again how hard it is to craft that all-important final act. The climactic encounter with the scummiest of the scum who'd originally been in our semi-hero's sights gets off to a promising start, but it drags through such a ridiculous number of reversals and increasingly over-the-top Feats of Superhuman Bloody-Mindedness from everyone involved that by its end it's more cartoonish than a pro wrestling match. This is a shame, but hopefully the director will be able to build on the good and steer away from the absurd in future efforts.