Release: 2008
Director: Glen Pitre
Writer(s) Chuck Walker, Glen Pitre
Cast: Eric Braeden, Billy Zane, George Kennedy
Ratings:
Rotten Tomatoes: 19% Audience
IMDb: 5.1/10
Netflix: 3.1 Stars
Review:
I am officially making this claim. Chuck Walker is the Ed Wood of modern westerns. They are overly bad that they stand out for the horrible nature and not their stories. Now on to the review. "The Man Who Came Back" is a revenge western where a man is framed, has his family killed and then comes back and kills all that is involved and eventually dies at the end.
This story has been told countless times and it is a traditional standard for Westerns. Which I have no qualms with but what I do have qualms with is presentation, acting, action and how the movie is portrayed. All of which in this movies case feels and flows more like a Day Time Soap Opera instead of a gun-slinging action movie that it is portrayed as. A majority of that can be accredited to Eric Braeden (The Young and the Restless) being the main star of the movie.
With his age and his lack of physical prowess he came across as a geriatric Jesse James. That had to lube his bones in order to do anything. He is slow, lethargic and undersells everything especially the fights. That are epic in nature for how awful they really are. Take one of the opening scenes as the camera has to switch back and forth to sell a fight that looks like two men rolling around kissing each other.
But it is supposed to be a giant fist fight and all it does sell is how cheesy the movie is. Which from this point it just got worse. As the acting degraded and so did the action. As with each passing scene you can tell the actors just don't care anymore and want to collect their checks. Which can be said of most of all Chuck Walker's movies. They start of moderate to strong and end with such a thud it sounds like a whisper.
Thankfully there is only I believe two more of his films I might have to see. One releases this summer and the other I will hopefully not find on my cue. I am not saying these are not watchable. Because they are. What I am saying is that as far as westerns go these are travesties to the name Western. As they sell the lowest value and make you pay the highest premium for the movie. As the list price for most of these movies are $24.99 to $39.99 and honestly that is highway robbery at its finest.
It is also just a warning about how bad these films are. As they bump up the price in hopes of making a profit on a low budget film that has no real story, characters or action. But make you believe that they have all of that and more. So just be warned these movies are out there and the producers and directors just want one thing your money. So speak with that and skip these movies and enjoy a nice extra large tub of popcorn at your local cinema.
My Rating 1.5 stars out of 5
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