Outlaw Posse
February 28th, 2024
MOVIE: OUTLAW POSSE
STARRING: MARIO VAN PEEBLES, JOHN CARROLL LYNCH, JAKE MANLEY, MANDELA VAN PEEBLES
DIRECTED BY: MARIO VAN PEEBLES
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 2 STARS (Out of 4)
The hope is that the Western never dies. I don’t think it would ever fully disappear but the great ones are too far and in between. There’s still potential for a great one this year with Kevin Costner’s magnum opus film Horizon: An American Saga, but unfortunately, Mario Van Peebles’s film Outlaw Posse leaves us wanting something better. It’s a somewhat sequel to Van Peebles’ 1993 Posse, following a cowboy that gathers a group of outlaws together to retrieve hidden gold. It’s a standard Western story for a sadly mediocre Western movie.
Taking place in 1908, we’re first introduced to Chief (played by the elder Van Peebles), sitting in a bar in Mexico, and approached by a few gunslingers that mess with the wrong guy. They are quickly disposed of, but when Chief hears the gold he found and stashed in the hills of Montana is still in its spot, he sets out on a journey to get it, or at least before the ruthless Angel (William Mapother) and his gang of bandits beat him to it.
One great tidbit from Gene Siskel was that a sign of a bad movie is when the making of the movie is more interesting than what’s on screen. That’s Outlaw Posse’s problem, a well-intentioned film, written and directed by Van Peebles, with a cast of legends, great character actors, and newcomers alike. Watching them hang out on set would be much cooler. What we get instead is a tedious and predictable production. A movie that captured the spirit better was Michael Jai White’s Outlaw Johnny Black and it’s easy to see that Outlaw Posse can’t hold its holster.
Each scene often feels like a conveyor belt, rolling from one backlot set to the next, with a recognizable actor showing up. Whoopi Goldberg plays Stagecoach Mary, Edward James Olmos as a general store operator- offering little purpose- and John Caroll Lynch as Chief’s gun slinger friend Carson. When Angel kidnaps the wife and kids of a man named Decker (played by Mario’s son Mandela Van Peebles), they come together to stop the bad guy. The young Van Peeble’s presence is an injection of youth but the attention is often diverted to let the plot stroll along.
It’s obvious that the budget is low on Outlaw Posse and would benefit from more details given to the things that make a Western great. The cinematography is generic and the costumes look like they were picked up in an old wardrobe storage bin. What can’t be denied, however, is that Mario Van Peebles cares deeply about Black cinema, a revival of old spaghetti westerns, and keeping these stories alive. The problem is that good intentions can only go so far. Outlaw Posse is better left to graze in the pasture.
OUTLAW POSSE IS PLAYING IN SELECT THEATERS ON FRIDAY MARCH 1ST, 2024.
2 STARS
Written by: Leo Brady
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