2010 - Gunless

Like Westerns? Like Paul Gross? Like Westerns starring Paul Gross? Then you’ll love “Gunless”, Paul Gross’ new Western comedy that has him playing a notorious American gunfighter name The Montana Kid. When we first meet him, the Kid (real name Sean) is unconscious and being carried on his saddle by his trusty horse to a small Canadian town with a hangman’s noose still comfortably around his neck. It seems our hero ran across a couple of nasty fellows determined to collect the bounty on his head, but as luck would have it, the bad guys were amateurs and Sean managed to escape, though just barely. Alas, the bad guys, led by a mean SOB name Cutler (Callum Keith Rennie) are still on his tail, and are determined to finish the job even if they have to track him to Canada to do it.

Now trapped in Canada with a bullet in his ass, our hero runs afoul of the town’s half dozen or so locals (it’s a really, really small town), which includes your usual collection of eccentrics and weirdos. He also encounters Jack (Tyler Mane), the town’s gigantic blacksmith, who Sean takes for a horse thief and after a perceived insult, challenges to a gunfight that Jack has no way of accomodating, being that he doesn’t own a gun and all. In fact, no one in town owns a pistol except for local farmer Jane Taylor (the gorgeous Sienna Guillory, looking absolutely gorgeous without trying), who is willing to trade Sean her wayward husband’s gun (so Sean can then lend it to Jack for the aforementioned gunfight, natch), but only if he assists her in building a windmill for her property. He agrees, since being a man of his word, when The Montana Kid challenges a man to a lethal duel, he expects to follow through on it. Plus, Sienna Guillory as Jane is really, really pretty, and it’s not like The Montana Kid is gay or anything…

It should be easy to guess from the plot outline that “Gunless” is essentially a goofy Western comedy, and taken in that spirit, it’s a very successful one. Paul Gross entertains as he growls his way through the film in his best Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name, while the lively cast of characters keep things moving along and interesting with a variety of gags. Notable background players include Graham Greene as Two Dog, an Indian scout who escorts earnest local Canadian Royal Mountie Corporal Kent (Dustin Milligan) on his various official duties; two saloon owners who share the same saloon and bicker over customers and rules regarding said customers; and a trio of hapless townsmen who are giddy to have a notorious gunfighter in their midst, and can’t wait to witness The Montana Kid plug poor, gunless Jack. Gross, of course, gamely plays the straight man to all the weirdness.

William Phillips writes and directs “Gunless” as an inoffensive, entertaining, and harmless movie. It’s something of an ode to the Westerns, and genre clichés abound but are slightly tweaked in service of the comedy and “fish out of water” storyline. There isn’t any real blood, though Sean does drip some red stuff in the early going from his butt wound. There also isn’t really any real violence, though threats of killing are plenty, and the film’s climactic final gunfight is ridiculously tame, with no one managing to hit the broadside of a barn. Except, that is, when The Montana Kid delivers a couple of well-placed (re: impossible) shots in order to take out the bad guys without killing them. The man has been spurred to change by the love of a good woman and the friendship of a fine town, it would appear.

As a fan of star Paul Gross from his “Due South” days (heck, I even thought his curling movie “Men in Brooms” was quite fun), “Gunless” is impossibly amusing from beginning to end. Are there any barrel laughs? Not really, but I chuckled plenty throughout. Writer/director William Phillips keeps thing moving at a nice, brisk pace, excellently balancing the comedy with the burgeoning (if predictably predictable) romance between Sean and Jane. Without a doubt, Paul Gross is one of the reasons to watch “Gunless”, as his Montana Kid’s cold, steel American gunfighter’s heart is slowly but surely warmed by Canadian hospitality. And, of course, Sienna Guillory in a corset never hurts.

William Phillips (director) / William Phillips (screenplay)

CAST: Sienna Guillory … Jane Taylor

Dustin Milligan … Corporal Jonathan Kent

Tyler Mane … Jack Smith

Paul Gross … Sean ‘The Montana Kid’ Rafferty

Callum Keith Rennie … Ben Cutler

Graham Greene … Two Dogs

Michael Eklund … Larry

Glynis Davies … Beth
Sumber : www.beyondhollywood.com

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