The Mustang
1/4
Starring: Matthias Schoenaerts, Jason Mitchell, Bruce Dern, Connie Britton, Gideon Adlon
Rated R for Language, Some Violence and Drug Content
"The Mustang" is a movie you watch in stupefied silence. It is so bad, so boring and so banal that I am having a hard time finding the words to describe it. This is one of those movies where you keep pressing the pause button to make sure that it's still moving forward.
Roman Coleman (Schoenaerts) is one tough cookie. He barely speaks, doesn't look anyone in the eye, and quick to anger. A prison officer (Britton) unwisely offers him a chance for an outdoor program, where he quickly and without much reason warms up to Myles (Dern). Myles runs a rehabilitation program that involves the training of wild horses. It does not get off to a good start. Roman is too hot tempered and impulsive to be successful. At one point he gets so angry that he delivers gut punches to the wild animal. But nevertheless, he becomes attached to the horse (named Marquis, although he pronounces it as "Marcus"). Through Marquis, Roman begins to heal.
This isn't an original idea for a movie, but it's hard to imagine this premise being executed so poorly. The film does almost nothing right. It moves at a glacial pace, the characters are boring, the dialogue is nonsense, the list goes on.
The biggest problem is just how contrived all of this is. "The Mustang" reeks of artifice. For example, right after the scene where Roman delivers sucker punches to the horse (a scene that would be disturbing if it didn't look so fake), he reads a book and becomes obsessed with horses. Then he's welcomed back by Marcus after he helps bring in the horses after a storm (accompanied by a threat of being sent to an asylum). Nothing about this sequence is remotely credible. Why does it happen? Because the film's plot requires it to.
The acting doesn't impress, but that's partly because they have nothing to work with. The dialogue is comprised of simple, sparse phrases that say little and mean less. This is one of those movies where the characters speak banal drivel with lots of "dramatic" pauses. A lot of them. It is one of those movies that gives independent films a bad name.
Matthias Schoenaerts does what he can, but he lacks the presence and intensity to really sell the character. I kept thinking that Robert LaSardo would have been a more daring and energetic choice. As played by Schoenaerts, Roman is a cliché we have seen a thousand times before: the tough guy who can't express himself so he says nothing or gets violent. I'm getting really sick and tired of this stupid archetype. It's overused and almost never interesting.
He doesn't have a lot of support either. Bruce Dern is wasted. Myles is a writer's construct, acting angry or encouraging as is needed by the plot. Connie Britton s on screen for two scenes and has nothing to do. Only Jason Mitchell is memorable as Henry, the seasoned trainer. He is the only one who brings any energy to this dry and lifeless piece of crap.
Director Laure de Clemont-Tonnerre opts for a hyper realistic approach to the film. I'm fine with that, as long as the material is strong enough to support it. If I haven't made it clear already, it isn't. The plot is thin and underdeveloped and the characters are lacking anything close to a personality. We don't know anything about these people. Why should we care about them or their problems?
This is de Clemont-Tonnerre's first feature film. Based on the evidence, she shouldn't be allowed within 100 miles of another camera. She seems obsessed with the minutiae. There are plenty of shots of the prison, landscapes and little moments that are meant to add color but really just waste time. She even includes shots of the actors (usually Schoenaerts) staring off into space. She is not a good storyteller. Many scenes aren't set up well or robbed of any sort of payoff. Character motivations are often unclear or contrived. This movie is simultaneously sterile and manipulative. "The Mustang" is what not to do when directing a movie.
There is one scene that did make me laugh. It's when Roman is yelling at his horse. I laughed because I remembered the scene in "True Lies" where Arnold Schwarzenegger does the same thing, only then it was much more clever and a lot funnier. That de Clemont-Tonnerre tries to take a scene like this seriously just goes to show you how miscalculated this movie is.
It's utterly amazing how badly this movie misfires. Scene after scene rings so false, yet it's obvious what they were trying to do. It is shockingly bad. This is one of the year's worst films.
Starring: Matthias Schoenaerts, Jason Mitchell, Bruce Dern, Connie Britton, Gideon Adlon
Rated R for Language, Some Violence and Drug Content
"The Mustang" is a movie you watch in stupefied silence. It is so bad, so boring and so banal that I am having a hard time finding the words to describe it. This is one of those movies where you keep pressing the pause button to make sure that it's still moving forward.
Roman Coleman (Schoenaerts) is one tough cookie. He barely speaks, doesn't look anyone in the eye, and quick to anger. A prison officer (Britton) unwisely offers him a chance for an outdoor program, where he quickly and without much reason warms up to Myles (Dern). Myles runs a rehabilitation program that involves the training of wild horses. It does not get off to a good start. Roman is too hot tempered and impulsive to be successful. At one point he gets so angry that he delivers gut punches to the wild animal. But nevertheless, he becomes attached to the horse (named Marquis, although he pronounces it as "Marcus"). Through Marquis, Roman begins to heal.
This isn't an original idea for a movie, but it's hard to imagine this premise being executed so poorly. The film does almost nothing right. It moves at a glacial pace, the characters are boring, the dialogue is nonsense, the list goes on.
The biggest problem is just how contrived all of this is. "The Mustang" reeks of artifice. For example, right after the scene where Roman delivers sucker punches to the horse (a scene that would be disturbing if it didn't look so fake), he reads a book and becomes obsessed with horses. Then he's welcomed back by Marcus after he helps bring in the horses after a storm (accompanied by a threat of being sent to an asylum). Nothing about this sequence is remotely credible. Why does it happen? Because the film's plot requires it to.
The acting doesn't impress, but that's partly because they have nothing to work with. The dialogue is comprised of simple, sparse phrases that say little and mean less. This is one of those movies where the characters speak banal drivel with lots of "dramatic" pauses. A lot of them. It is one of those movies that gives independent films a bad name.
Matthias Schoenaerts does what he can, but he lacks the presence and intensity to really sell the character. I kept thinking that Robert LaSardo would have been a more daring and energetic choice. As played by Schoenaerts, Roman is a cliché we have seen a thousand times before: the tough guy who can't express himself so he says nothing or gets violent. I'm getting really sick and tired of this stupid archetype. It's overused and almost never interesting.
He doesn't have a lot of support either. Bruce Dern is wasted. Myles is a writer's construct, acting angry or encouraging as is needed by the plot. Connie Britton s on screen for two scenes and has nothing to do. Only Jason Mitchell is memorable as Henry, the seasoned trainer. He is the only one who brings any energy to this dry and lifeless piece of crap.
Director Laure de Clemont-Tonnerre opts for a hyper realistic approach to the film. I'm fine with that, as long as the material is strong enough to support it. If I haven't made it clear already, it isn't. The plot is thin and underdeveloped and the characters are lacking anything close to a personality. We don't know anything about these people. Why should we care about them or their problems?
This is de Clemont-Tonnerre's first feature film. Based on the evidence, she shouldn't be allowed within 100 miles of another camera. She seems obsessed with the minutiae. There are plenty of shots of the prison, landscapes and little moments that are meant to add color but really just waste time. She even includes shots of the actors (usually Schoenaerts) staring off into space. She is not a good storyteller. Many scenes aren't set up well or robbed of any sort of payoff. Character motivations are often unclear or contrived. This movie is simultaneously sterile and manipulative. "The Mustang" is what not to do when directing a movie.
There is one scene that did make me laugh. It's when Roman is yelling at his horse. I laughed because I remembered the scene in "True Lies" where Arnold Schwarzenegger does the same thing, only then it was much more clever and a lot funnier. That de Clemont-Tonnerre tries to take a scene like this seriously just goes to show you how miscalculated this movie is.
It's utterly amazing how badly this movie misfires. Scene after scene rings so false, yet it's obvious what they were trying to do. It is shockingly bad. This is one of the year's worst films.
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