Butcher’s Crossing, 2023.
Directed by Gabe Polsky.
Starring Nicolas Cage, Fred Hechinger, Jeremy Bobb, Paul Raci, Xander Berkeley, and Rachel Keller.
SYNOPSIS:
An Ivy League drop-out travels to the Colorado wilderness, where he joins a team of buffalo hunters on a journey that puts his life and sanity at risk. Based on the highly acclaimed novel by John Williams.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Butcher’s Crossing wouldn’t exist.
Based on the classic John Williams novel, this version of Butcher’s Crossing from director Gabe Polsky (co-writing alongside Liam Satre-Meloy) never quite finds an engaging way into these characters, meaning that it mostly amounts to feeling bad for an obscene amount of buffalo getting shot for their hides while everyone supposedly has a psychological break due to being stranded in an enclosure for a long, grueling winter that viewers don’t actually get to see.
Pleasantly, Nicolas Cage is somewhat restrained in the role of Miller, reading a ragtag crew on an arduous journey to a murder haul so large and profitable they will never have to work again. There is a sense that he is a determined nutjob but seemingly self-aware of that. If anything, he seems to allow Ivy League dropout Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger) onto the expedition not only because the traveling adventurer is eager to fund the journey but almost out of certainty that doing so will scare the young man straight into doing something more productive with this time, at least after they get rich from selling the hides. Miller is attuned to the fact that, even though it’s a herd of buffalo, one could easily lose their soul from the prideful compulsion to kill everyone in the perilous titular area just to say he did it.
As for Will, he is a blank slate who wants to experience whatever good and bad the world has to offer. He doesn’t believe he will find purpose in studying, and he certainly doesn’t find much purpose in this film. Working with a preacher/campfire specialist and a buffalo skinner, the group’s quest lacks the suspense and danger required to buy into these attempted character arcs and the situation’s urgency. Despite some committed on-location shooting, the story goes through the motions and then bafflingly flashes forward once inner strife between the group does arise.
Given how often the camera lingers on buffalo getting shot just as much as it does the admittedly gorgeously captured locales, it’s apparent that Butcher’s Crossing is intended to be an animal activist flick as much as it is a psychological tale of enduring harsh conditions and a cautionary tale. That is doubled down on during the ending credits with much on-screen text talking about the preservation of buffalo today, but there is also nothing here that inspires much outrage, either. It’s mostly all dull, with flat characters defined by their skills.
The fallout and consequences during the third act are the closest the proceedings come to engaging, although there is also a good chance most people coming into Butcher’s Crossing are already familiar with the story’s moral. There is allure in observing buffalo roaming the exquisitely shot plains (at least before Miller starts gunning them down one by one), and this is a reminder that even when the material is shoddily executed, Nicolas Cage generally tries to deliver a solid performance matching the filmmaker’s tone. Unfortunately, like the buffalo, the film just roams.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
