Blackthorn Reviews
October 14, 2011
"Blackthorn" feels less like a proper sequel to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," which it purports to be, than a coattail rider.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.5/4
October 14, 2011
I love westerns and a good story that opens new doors of imagination to the viewer. "Blackthorn" is both.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
October 13, 2011
A different kind of Western - somber, reflective and set in the elevated plains and salt flats of Bolivia.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
October 13, 2011
The filmmakers didn't have a lot of options. In some ways the new picture feels like a boxed-in replay.
Original Score: 2.5/4
October 13, 2011
Blackthorn is a compelling character, and "Blackthorn" is an absorbing, beautifully photographed character study.
Original Score: 3/4
October 13, 2011
Each frame is a crystalline jaw-dropper that places the smallish actions of men within a vast canvas of lush jungle, lunar salt flats, Andean snow, and desert sand. The result is a pretty good movie that almost looks better than it needs to.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
October 13, 2011
"Blackthorn" takes the buddy movie outlaw mythology and glamour of the Newman-Redford classic and guts it like a fish.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
October 13, 2011
Shepard's performance is one to remember.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
October 13, 2011
Butch has grown old? And homesick? And gets waylaid, and is back in action again? Was this trip necessary?
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
October 12, 2011
Offers a fresh reason to remain invested in Shepard's long and winding filmography, providing a meaty role and an irresistible western formula to flare his screen charisma in full.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
October 12, 2011
Despite a twist at the end and some striking scenery, this revival suggests that some legends are best left in peace.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
October 7, 2011
What really transforms Blackthorn into a fresh take on an archetypical story is Shepard's Cassidy, a man burdened by his outlaw past.
October 7, 2011
Mateo Gil's sturdy Western makes a nicely melancholy flipside to George Roy Hill's more rambunctious classic.
October 7, 2011
If ever a man deserved the nickname "Butch," it's Sam Shepard.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
October 7, 2011
Director Mateo Gill's autumnal movie has elements of other late-era Westerns in its blood, but it isn't easily pigeonholed.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
October 7, 2011
In his best performance since "The Right Stuff'' turned him into a reluctant movie star, Shepard makes "Blackthorn'' worth seeing.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
October 6, 2011
If nothing else, the film reminds just how arresting an actor Shepard can be. Like Blackthorn, he's only gotten better with age.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
October 6, 2011
The filmmakers rely on Mr. Shepard to lend the character some of his mythic weight, but it would take an actor with greater range to make Butch more than a cardboard outlaw-saint.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
October 6, 2011
Shepard sells it with a depth and a conflicted sense of remorse that pulls this folk hero down to earth.
Full Review
| Original Score: 6.8/10
October 6, 2011
strips Cassidy of the myth, reminding us that even Paul Newman couldn't escape old age.
Original Score: 2/5