Robert Duvall wrote, directed and starred in "Wild Horses", a modern day Western that has little bearing between the title and actual story taking place. It's sort of a family drama interspersed with a criminal investigation focused on Duvall's character, ranch owner Scott Briggs. Until I read some of the other reviews here, I didn't know the actress Luciana Pedraza was Duvall's real life wife. She's the Texas Ranger attempting to link Briggs with the disappearance and presumed murder of a Mexican teenager who had a relationship with Briggs's son Ben (James Franco) some fifteen years earlier. With the cold case reopened, Briggs is caught up short and scrambles to keep himself in the clear about what happened so many years ago.
I'm not as upset about the film as a lot of commenters on this board seem to be. Duvall may be settling into a comfortable pattern of characters in his latest movie roles, but that's no reason to fault his ability. He delivers his lines with nuance and determination, and I for one don't mind the pacing of his pictures like "A Night in Old Mexico" and the one under consideration here.
What kept me off balance however was Franco's portrayal of son Ben. Alternately conflicted and reconciled with his father over his own sexual identity, his motivation in telling the elder Briggs he never wanted to see him again after the truth came out about the Davis death didn't ring true for me. After all, Briggs didn't actually kill Davis, it was a horrible accident for which he was present and might have borne second or third degree culpability. If anything, his 'crime' was remaining silent for the last decade and a half, but coming clean seemed like what should have been a redemptive moment. I guess what I'm saying is that that whole scenario needed a better working over to come across more effectively.
As it is, when Scott Briggs pulled over on the side of the road, I felt he had already telegraphed the outcome of the movie. The off screen gun shot brought his personal ordeal and anguish to an end, and if you think about it, not many actors would write themselves into a screenplay in which they come out as a failed human being. Give Duvall credit at least for taking that kind of risk near the end of a long and productive career.
I'm not as upset about the film as a lot of commenters on this board seem to be. Duvall may be settling into a comfortable pattern of characters in his latest movie roles, but that's no reason to fault his ability. He delivers his lines with nuance and determination, and I for one don't mind the pacing of his pictures like "A Night in Old Mexico" and the one under consideration here.
What kept me off balance however was Franco's portrayal of son Ben. Alternately conflicted and reconciled with his father over his own sexual identity, his motivation in telling the elder Briggs he never wanted to see him again after the truth came out about the Davis death didn't ring true for me. After all, Briggs didn't actually kill Davis, it was a horrible accident for which he was present and might have borne second or third degree culpability. If anything, his 'crime' was remaining silent for the last decade and a half, but coming clean seemed like what should have been a redemptive moment. I guess what I'm saying is that that whole scenario needed a better working over to come across more effectively.
As it is, when Scott Briggs pulled over on the side of the road, I felt he had already telegraphed the outcome of the movie. The off screen gun shot brought his personal ordeal and anguish to an end, and if you think about it, not many actors would write themselves into a screenplay in which they come out as a failed human being. Give Duvall credit at least for taking that kind of risk near the end of a long and productive career.