Two boys are living alone and making do, getting by, after parental support is no longer there. The older one, Lucas, 13, is looking after the younger, Jacob. There's an incident in the town when Jacob is abused by the son of a local farmer. Lucas jumps to his defence and injures the farmer's son, so he can't work the land. The farmer tries to get Lucas to make amends by doing his injured son's work. There follows an accidental shooting (ironically) which ends the farmer's life, Lucas having pulled the trigger. Lucas is thrown in jail for murder, as many people knew what had happened in the town, and set to hang after a trial (which we don't see anything of).
In rides Baldwin's character, Harland Rust, after a brief visit in the jail by Rust's sister, Evelyn, to fix the injustice. He breaks Lucas out of jail and rides off with him, heading to Mexico, while Lucas kicks and screams as he's concerned about what will happen to Jacob. But Rust gives him no choice. As the story progresses we learn more about the family connections and who is who, where they fit in.
Hot in pursuit of the pair to serve justice is a bunch of lawmen and bounty hunters - as there is now a $1,000 price on their heads. So it now turns into a kind of Road Movie on horseback as we stay with the pair of them. They get to bond, into various scrapes with those pursuing them and the now infamous gun-shooting scenes where Hutchins was shot.
As I say, it's a fairly simple plot really - the usual western type stuff with goodies chasing baddies (in this case with a twist), people getting shot and killed left, right and centre in the process as we head to the finale with the outcomes which I won't spoil here. The actor playing Lucas, Patrick Scott McDermott did it well and I'm sure he will have a decent acting future.
It's a good film and I'm glad that they finished making it - there are poignant tributes paid to Halyna Hutchins before the credits roll, accompanied by some appropriately moving music. The cinematography is super - not only the wide open countryside but also dark, often smokey and candlelit interiors where use of light and shadow is excellent.
I wasn't convinced about Baldwin in the role at first! He looked a little out of place in relation to most of the films we're used to seeing him in, but with his character being fatter and older and his now ageing face, I was sold in the end. Just. I could see Clint Eastwood doing it better. Well, when he was younger! The supporting acting is all pretty good. But yes, an enjoyable good old fashioned western and the 2 hours 20 minutes flew by.
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