Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

SnoopyStyle John Smith (Bruce Willis) drifts into the small dusty town of Jericho, Texas during the Prohibition Era. He is just passing through until he looks at Felina a little too long. Two warring bootlegging gangs have desolated the town and Felina happens to be gang leader Doyle's girl. Sheriff Ed Galt (Bruce Dern) is corrupt and ineffective. Joe Monday (William Sanderson) runs the local bar. John Smith sees an opportunity to make a little money playing both sides before he leaves town. Hickey (Christopher Walken) is Doyle's right hand man.This is a movie of overwhelming style and atmosphere. It is an atmosphere of unrelenting gloom. Bruce's unceasing monotone narration puts a damper on everything. I'm perfectly fine with a murky atmosphere but this is a flat unchanging grind. There are plenty of blood, guns and action. However even those scenes don't raise the tension or excitement. Most of it is the lifeless performance from Bruce.

AaronCapenBanner Walter Hill directed this updated version of "Fistful Of Dollars", which had starred Clint Eastwood as a mysterious gunfighter named Joe, caught between two rival crime families in an old west border town. Here, Bruce Willis plays mysterious gunslinger John Smith, who also gets in the middle of two warring crime families in a small Texas town, though this time it's the Irish and Italians, rather than Americans and Mexicans. Like Joe, John will end up playing both sides against the other, then being caught and beaten, before getting his revenge. Not bad at all really, but so similar to previous film it hardly seems worth the effort.

loveagoodstory This film doesn't do much wrong except not really doing much right. The mood and feel of a small American western town in Prohibition is nicely put across, borrowing something from films like Eastwood's 'Unforgiven'. The acting is fine, particularly from the always-reliable Christopher Walken who once again lights up more of his role than is asked of him.But the story adaption is a little tired and Willis's "It was a dirty town but all towns were" voice-over feels dated rather than nostalgic. The bad guys are all a bit too thick to seem like adversaries so it feels like any successes of Willis's are inevitable. That makes it hard for the film to keep you wondering as the story appears to just play itself out.

Spikeopath Last Man Standing is directed by Walter Hill who also adapts the screenplay from a story written by Ryûzô Kikushima and Akira Kurosawa. It stars Bruce Willis, Bruce Dern, William Sanderson, Christopher Walken, David Patrick Kelly, Karina Lombard and Ned Eisenberg. Music is by Ry Cooder and cinematography by Lloyd Ahern.Walter Hill's variant on Yojimbo, plot basically sees Willis as drifter John Smith, who after arriving in the dusty town of Jericho, promptly sets about making some serious cash by playing the town's two gangs off against each other. Smith is one tough hombre, a deadly pistoleer who has a fear of nothing, which is why the two respective gang leaders want him to work for them. Noses get put out of joint, blood flows, scores settled and a anti-hero is born, complete with permanent scowl and dry narration.The look and sound is terrific, Cooder's pessimistic twangs are all over the plot, while the visuals dovetail between sun-baked landscapes and the misty lensed ghost town of Jericho. Hill brings his trademark stylish violence into play, with slow-mos and rapid fire shoot-outs impressive, while his skill at creating an antique atmosphere is very much in evidence. Unfortunately the narrative isn't up to much, it lacks scope and characters merely exist, making this very much a style over substance exercise. It also means that much of the cast are given only morsels to feed on. A shame when you got Walken and Kelly on overdrive when on screen.It's an odd blend of a Western with Prohibition Noir characters, but it's unmistakably a Walter Hill film. For his fans there's enough to like about it whilst accepting it's a bit of a throwaway on the page. For the casual crime/action film fan, however, it's likely to be much ado about nothing. 7/10