Wait for the surprises

Wait for the surprises

Red Rock West

A film By John Dahl

At Melbourne's Cinema Nova and Valhalla

Reviewed by Alex Cooper

Red Rock West, the latest offering from John Dahl and his brother Rick, centres on Michael (played by Nicholas Cage), an unemployed oil worker who has driven from Texas to Wyoming looking for work. Instead he finds Red Rock, a small town that has seen better days.

Desperate for work, he inquires at the local hotel only to be mistaken by the owner for someone the owner has hired to kill his wife. When his wife hires Michael to kill her husband, he decides it is time to leave. A traffic accident forces him to return, and shortly after the real hired killer arrives.

All hell breaks loose as Michael tries repeatedly to leave Red Rock only to find himself in more trouble as the story unfolds.

The other characters are not what they seem at first glance. This is the strength of the movie. Just when it was looking like so many other films of its type, the surprises start.

The characters are realistic, and Michael, while the "goody" of the film, he comes across as a real person. All in all, a quite enjoyable movie.

From GLW issue 124