In a Valley of Violence

Written and directed by Ti West, In a Valley of Violence follows Ethan Hawke’s mysterious Paul as he and his dog arrive in a small Old West town and are eventually (and perhaps inevitably) drawn into a deadly cycle of violence with several citizens (including James Ransone’s Gilly and John Travolta’s Marshal). Filmmaker West does an effective job of initially establishing a loose and periodically tongue-in-cheek vibe designed to echo the Spaghetti Westerns of yesteryear, with the movie’s affable atmosphere heightened by Hawke’s typically engrossing turn as the movie’s personable protagonist (and it doesn’t hurt, either, that his character’s chemistry with his dog is palpable). And although the movie’s revenge-based narrative holds some promise at the outset, In a Valley of Violence grows less and less interesting (and more and more familiar) as time progresses – with the movie’s overly deliberate midsection essentially highlighting the less-than-fresh nature of West’s screenplay (ie this is, after all, essentially John Wick transposed to the Old West). The action-packed yet hopelessly uninvolving climax ultimately confirms In a Valley of Violence‘s place as a disappointingly half-baked misfire, which is a shame, certainly, given the serious potential afforded by both the setup and the stars’ efforts.

** out of ****