Brimstone

If it wasn’t said in advance that this was a western movie, I would have thought that the Dutch director has laid the foundations for this story somewhere under the Alps. The locations truly encourage it. Okay, fine… Let’s consider Brimstone a western movie. A western movie, shot by a Dutch director with the support of various European funds and with American actors, who showed the best they are capable of. For example, Guy Pearce is truly the ultimate bastard in this movie, who makes you think for the first half an hour just so he can make you sick for the rest of the movie. Dakota Fanning shows how incredibly she matured as an actress, because she managed to play a partially silent role absolutely fantastically. Even the atypical narration divided into chapters makes sense, even though it is not completely linear. All of that makes Brimstone a very unique, very uncompromising and rather rough movie that looks like a western, but I would rather compare it to a raw European historical drama with an atypical cast and a touch of American environment. (03/11/2017)

Westerns are on the rise again, and filmmakers are realizing that they need to take a new approach. The European co-production succeeded in doing that and we get a film that's pretty gritty, very uncomfortable, and has a great demonic character. But the way the story is told doesn't really serve much of a purpose and doesn't give the film much extra. (21/03/2017)

Two and a half hours of superficial suffering of the main female character at the hands of the main male character. In an epic western setting, predictably and anachronistically played out in four muddled acts, and without a creative filmmaking touch. The frightening moments alternate in places with scenes that are poor in logic and the narrative lacks secondary storylines that would give it additional layers of thought. It focuses solely on intensifying the evil in Guy Pierce’s character to the greatest extent possible without explaining his reasons. Brimstone is emotionally powerful and suffocating in places, but unfortunately it is a one-dimensional story like something out of a mediocre novel for housewives. And with a ridiculous climax. (24/03/2024)

A story about womanhood conceived as a bloody drama set in the Wild West. The status of women at the time (almost every man, apart from one, see them either as cleaning ladies or whores – or both), the strength of the Christian faith and its interpretation are approached exceedingly suggestively. Not one ounce of humor, cruelty is taken to new levels, thanks too to Guy Pearce’s demonic reverend, who often steals the limelight in some scenes. The non-linear chronology of the storytelling works very well, and each chapter leads smoothly to the point and gradually answers the viewer’s questions. A masterpiece. (17/09/2017)

An interesting piece, very unconventional, but unfortunately I found it irritating in its narrative style. The film is divided into four chapters that are scattered in time, making it unnecessarily confusing and over-complicated, which I personally don't like very much. What bothered me the most was when a character dies in one chapter and lives again in the next, I hate that. Another downside is the strong resemblance between the actresses Dakota Fanning and Emilia Jones, I had a hard time telling which one of them was on the set, which is a great shame because the visuals are perfect, the atmosphere is raw and no violence or sex is spared, for which I give a big plus. The highlight for me was the second chapter. The running time is also too long for my taste, so despite the excellent scenes, I can't give it an above average rating. PS: Guy Pearce was really diabolical. 65%. (11/03/2017)