Review: Slow West

An alt-western with plenty of quirk but little bite, John MacLean's Slow West is a wasted opportunity kept afloat by a bevy of skilled actors. It goes for a revisionist approach to the genre, but misses the mark. That's disappointing, as the set-up is a rich one: hopeless romantic Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) arrives in the American West seeking his lady love Rose Ross (Caren Pistorius), who fled their native Scotland with her father in the wake of a bloody scandal. To say that the cultured and idealistic Jay is out of his element is to put it mildly; barely five minutes into the movie and he's on the wrong end of a gun, but is rescued by a drifter, Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender doing his best Clint Eastwood impersonation, down to the cheroot). Silas sells his services as a guide and protector to Jay, promising to get the lad to his destination safely for a steep price.