“‘Old’ Is the Keyword in Familiar Nicolas Cage Western ‘The Old Way'”

Doing something new doesn’t always mean not doing something old. That’s a terrible sentence. It’s okay. You’ll survive. 

Anyways. The Old Way adds a couple of fresh ideas to the “reformed gunslinger goes back into action for VENGEANCE” framework; the reformed gunslinger, as a character, is at least toward the mild of the sociopathy spectrum, and this movie confesses as much straight up. It even makes sociopathy part of a compelling character arc. That’s good! In fact, I think a movie that makes more of a deal of its protagonist’s sociopathy would be even better. But The Old Way slips up and tries to include old-school mythologizing to a detrimental effect. 

But you’ll have to read more about that over at Paste Magazine, I reckon.

Advertisement