The Horseman starts with our hero, played by Peter Marshall, dressed in what looks like a cable repairman's uniform, walking up to a home and knocking politely on the door. A man answers, and the two greet each other curtly. A second later we see Marshall beating the man's face in with a crowbar.
The brutality of "The Horseman" is probably the one thing that defines it more than anything else. It's a film we've seen before, and depending on who you talk to, we've seen it done better. The plot is classic noir revenge; Marshall's daughter is drugged, then raped, then killed. Marshal decides he will kill every person involved, and he does so brutally, not at all like the calculated way Denzel Washington or Liam Neeson took revenge in Man on Fire or Taken. He does so with the type of brutality we'd expect from such a dark and foreboding poster.
What "The Horseman" does deliver, though, and in a higher amount than its moral or lesson, is the atmosphere. The film is shadowy and dark, and makes no one look attractive or appealing. Instead, we are given a raw, evisceral look into Marshall's character's head, and how he has lost any sense of happiness since his daughter's death. The brutality once again let's the audience see into Marshall's lonely, vengeance-driven soul.
We are not given anything we have not seen before, though "The Horseman" is certainly worthy and dark entry into the noir-revenge genre. I approve.
The brutality of "The Horseman" is probably the one thing that defines it more than anything else. It's a film we've seen before, and depending on who you talk to, we've seen it done better. The plot is classic noir revenge; Marshall's daughter is drugged, then raped, then killed. Marshal decides he will kill every person involved, and he does so brutally, not at all like the calculated way Denzel Washington or Liam Neeson took revenge in Man on Fire or Taken. He does so with the type of brutality we'd expect from such a dark and foreboding poster.
What "The Horseman" does deliver, though, and in a higher amount than its moral or lesson, is the atmosphere. The film is shadowy and dark, and makes no one look attractive or appealing. Instead, we are given a raw, evisceral look into Marshall's character's head, and how he has lost any sense of happiness since his daughter's death. The brutality once again let's the audience see into Marshall's lonely, vengeance-driven soul.
We are not given anything we have not seen before, though "The Horseman" is certainly worthy and dark entry into the noir-revenge genre. I approve.