Sweet Vengeance (2013)
In the western town of Sweetwater, a fanatical preacher, a rogue sheriff and a classy former prostitute collide in a blood soaked tale of murder and revenge.
I really enjoyed Sweet Vengeance, it was a film i'd been looking forward to seeing and for once wasn't left wanting more.
For the first twenty minutes i felt the film was trying to be too provocative and clever for its own good, however with the proper introduction of Ed Harris's dingbat sheriff the storyline settled down and evolved into a rather tasty out for revenge western. Stylistically more on the lines of the spaghetti movement or later Hollywood pieces such as The Missing and Seraphim Falls rather than the classic American western of old. In fact having said that its a film which uses colour really well, especially January Jones's beautiful purple dress, startling against the yellows and browns of the classic western environments.
The film has an excellent cast, the already mentioned Ed Harris, Jason Isaacs as the crazed preacher and Madmen's Jones as the landowner whose murdered husband is at the centre of the plot. I've seen Jones in a couple of films recently and this is the first one where she's actually been given something meaty to do, her killing spree in the final twenty minutes is as brutal and well performed as any i've seen, Calamity Jane she ain't. Isaacs as the prophet Jason is downright disturbing at times, his nefarious actions eventually bringing him the unwanted attention of both Jones and Harris.
Sweet Vengeance has some fantastic stand out scenes - Harris crucified upside down for one and Jones, standing naked in the river, turns round, 45 in hand, casually killing her pursuers with ruthless efficiency, for another.
Intelligent, hard hitting and brutal, Sweet Vengeance is highly recommended.
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