“What can we do to make this better?”, reads a quote before the end credits run on Joel Souza’s epic western. The words are ascribed to Halyna Hutchins whose tragic on-set death will forever overshadow the project, due-fully dedicated to her. The quote aims to show her commitment to artistic quality, regardless of a project’s scope or prestige. But it sounds unfortunate considering the long-delayed work’s need for improvement. Already before Rust’s premiere last year at Cameraimage, excerpts appeared in the documentary Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna. But these fragments, mostly from one fatal scene not included in the final cut, gave little insight into the films overall quality.
Souza and Baldwin conceived its story together. It reads like a muddle of True Grit, The Searchers and Unforgiven. Orphaned 13-year-old Lucas (Patrick Scott McDermott) accidentally shoots the violent father of a couple of boys that bullied his little brother. He’s condemned to hang but shot out of jail by legendary outlaw Harland Rust (Alec Baldwin). The hardened gunslinger reveals himself to Lucas as his grandfather and plans to bring him to safety in Mexico. In pursuit are disillusioned sheriff Wood Helm (Josh Hopkins) with his posse and psychotic headhunter Fenton “Preacher” Lang (Travis Fimmel). Reading the plot outline is enough to see how this story will go.
After some initial reluctance, Lucas warms to his gruff grandfather and thaws his frozen heart. This change of character remains a mystery. Neither of them does anything that would explain why Rust early one treats Lucas like his prisoner, but a few days later gets him a puppy. This puppy is a prime example of the awkward manipulation and tokenism that replace character development and nuanced storytelling. Taking a puppy on their flight is utterly inopportune for everyone, including the puppy. But, hey, the old guy who kills half a dozen people and has killed maybe dozens in the decades before, is kind to dogs, so he can’t be that bad!
By saving his grandson’s life, Rust seems to look for redemption, though it’s never clear for what exactly. Despite the exhausting runtime of more than two hours, the plot tells hardly anything about its multitude of characters. What little information is conveyed hardly goes beyond dated tropes. Souza checks all the boxes for genre clichés: old gunman on his last mission, underaged adept, father-son-relationship, upstanding lawman, intimidating but honorable native Americans, camp fire talk, black-suited antagonist, headhunters, trappers, saloon girls, prim iron lady (played by Francis Fisher who delivers the best performance). The result feels accordingly generic and soulless. Unfortunately, the cinematography is only slightly better.
Grand landscape panoramas, a few interesting perspectives that present characters as clear-cut silhouettes, hectic gun fights. Each of the latter invariably evokes Hutchins’ death. When work was resumed, Bianca Cline took over. Their work’s seamless continuity speaks to both their talent in combining efficiency with subtle personal touches. But this competence does little for this overblown tale stuffed with unnecessary characters, embarrassing attempts at humor and unfinished side plots. Similar to Kevin Costner’s Horizon, Souza’s approach is not a revision but resurrection of toxic masculinity and reactionary ideas of gender roles, justice and strength. Sadly, its tragic backstory remains the most memorable aspect about the whole film.
- OT: Rust
- Director: Joel Souza
- Screenplay: Joel Souza
- Year: 2023
- Distribution | Production © 24 Bilder
