Horsemen

There’s little doubt that Dennis Quaid’s expectedly enthralling performance ultimately allows the viewer to overlook Horsemen‘s various problems, as the actor effectively compensates for the film’s less-then-fresh storyline and progressively absurd plot twists. The movie casts Quaid as Aidan Breslin, a grizzled detective who must overcome some personal issues to solve a series of murders designed to evoke the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It’s a pretty standard serial-killer-movie premise that’s generally employed to better-than-expected effect by director Jonas Åkerlund, as the filmmaker drops the experimental visuals for which he’s become known and instead infuses the proceedings with an appropriately sinister atmosphere that’s perpetuated by several genuinely creepy interludes (including one that’s as cringe-worthy as anything within the Saw series). Quaid’s stirring work is certainly matched by the majority of the film’s periphery performers (ie Clifton Collins Jr., Patrick Fugit, Lou Taylor Pucci, etc), with Zhang Ziyi’s frustratingly incompetent turn as an eccentric witness standing as Horsemen‘s most overtly negative attribute. Though her screen time is thankfully kept to a minimum, the actress’ inability to convincingly step into the shoes of an admittedly complex character threatens to derail the production on an all-too-frequent basis – as does the almost laughably absurd reveal of the criminal mastermind behind the increasingly sinister plot (ie it’s impossible to swallow that this particular person would’ve possessed the know-how and temperament to pull off such an intricate and downright evil scheme). Such deficiencies, coupled with the relentlessly routine nature of Dave Callaham’s screenplay, ensure that Horsemen inevitably comes off as a watchable yet entirely underwhelming piece of work, with Quaid’s mere presence generally sustaining the viewer’s interest even through the movie’s more overtly questionable sequences.

**1/2 out of ****