So whenever there is a big difference between the critics and audience ratings, just remember the audience lives in the real world. Critics live in a bubble and sometimes you have to think outside that bubble. I get it. This Western is contrived from the much repeated formula of yesteryears. Critics need to be surprised. They prefer minimal stage settings and mental soliloquies (think Locke, Frozen, Buried, Gravity, Phone Booth, etc.). We've seen Keifer in Young Guns, and recently, Donald in Dawn Rider. To see them both together in a Western is wonderful.
Great movie. Love the character development. Tom Hardy plays a low-keyed, seemingly naive (but not), nice guy caught in a quagmire of corruption. Eric Deeds bullies Bob (Tom Hardy) throughout the movie, but in the end....SPOILER ALERT: Eric meets his match. Bob gets the business, the girl and the dog!
