The true story of western gunslinger "Wild" Bill Hickok,
who briefly served as marshal of Abilene, Kansas. BIOPIC/WESTERN
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Hickok (2017)Directed by Timothy Woodward Jr.
Written by Michael Lanahan Starring Luke Hemsworth, Trace Adkins, Kris Kristofferson, Cameron Richardson, Bruce Dern, Kaiwi Lyman |
I'm not entirely sure how this happened, but somehow, I wandered out of legitimate cinema and into the realm of those direct-to-DVD, half-assed, semi-remake, dollar store movies we all actively try and avoid. Being on Netflix gave Hickok an unearned sense of legitimacy, I was tricked, and I watched it. This movie is a joke, plain and simple. It ignores any and all aspects of the fascinating life of Old West legend "Wild" Bill Hickok, and instead crafts a lukewarm, boring, generic western story starring the forgotten Hemsworth and country boy Trace Adkins.
Luke Hemsworth, aka Not Thor or Gale from The Hunger Games, stars as Wild Bill, delivering a stale, forgettable performance that contains every western stereotype in the book. He's either an outlaw or a dumbass pretending to be an outlaw, but somehow he ends up marshal of Abilene, Kansas. Fearsome crime lord Phil Poe (Adkins), who is actually quite reasonable the whole time and never does anything illegal, wants Bill dead. Meanwhile, Poe's wife Mattie (Richardson) used to sleep with Bill and hates him now, until she doesn't. The story is a mess and feels wildly insincere the entire time. I looked into director Timothy Woodward Jr.'s filmography after the watch, and it is full of shit exactly like this. Movies that should barely be considered watchable cinema. The guy hasn't done a single legit movie. Just regurgitated slop like Hickok. Do yourself a favor and ignore this one and all others like it. |