Justice Blu-ray Review
Eric Sloss
December 12th, 2017
JUSTICE is as creaky and dusty as its setting. The film feels like a high school production with inane dialogue and wooden performances. Nothing felt authentic in this western. It’s just a cheaply made feature that looks and feels cheaply made. This is an hour and a half I will never get back.
JUSTICE is set in Nevada in 1870. In this small town, a corrupt mayor named Pierce (Stephen Lang who honestly should be twirling a mustache when he is on the screen) rules with an iron fist. He is surrounded by a crew of Confederate henchmen led by the uneducated Reb (John Lewis). How do we know he’s uneducated? Because Mayor Pierce tells him he is. There is a shining example in this place by the way of a preacher named Thomas McCord (Jackson Rathbone). Thomas is a good man fighting a losing battle against the corruption that stains this town. He goes a bit too far calling out the bad guys and gets killed by Red and his men from the order of the mayor.
Mayor Pierce is then free to start stockpiling guns and gold in an abandoned mine. He plans to raise an army and take on the federal government. He’s a person who did not believe the Civil War was over even after General Lee surrendered.
In comes US Marshal James McCord (Nathan Parsons) who ambles into town looking for his brother. He’s horrified to find out that his brother died in a fiery inferno under suspicious circumstances. He connects with local woman Melissa (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) who has taken over the preaching duties of James’s late brother. Sigler goes all out with the doe eyes with conveying Melissa’s growing affections with James. James had not been on good terms with his brother. He thought he was coward for not fighting in the war. He says repeatedly that he isn’t like his brother. He does this in a gruff voice to signify a guy with a past and not afraid to take on all challenges.
James causes trouble for the mayor and Reb and his goons. He stops people from getting beat up or worse. This leads to escalating confrontations where James gets the worse of it. James though is determined to get justice for his brother and make the guilty parties pay. There is one scene after another that is ridiculous. We have Melissa giving one of the least inspiring pep talks in film history. We have a bad guy getting killed in the silliest way that will have you howling on the floor. I already mentioned the stilted dialogue that is either quite simplistic or too modern for the times. You will be amazed by how inept everything is.
JUSTICE is not served. Skip this turkey and thank me later.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: The scenery isn’t bad. It isn’t great either. There are some decent shots of the West.
Audio: The sound was just adequate. It could have been a lot better. I did have to put on the closed captioning to capture all the dialogue.
Previews
