American Outlaws

Somehow, through the power of God, Vigilante here found some time away from his hellish schedule to check out the first western of the new millenium. It all but seemed that the genre had bit its last bullet, but it seems that Hollywood has decided to give it one more go round. Well, like the tag line says. Bad is good....and this is definitely a good 'BAD' film.

When the citizens of a Midwest town learn that a corrupt railroad baron intends to force them off their land in the name of progress, a group of young farmers join forces to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. In the course of serving this vendetta, the renegade farmers become the targets of the biggest manhunt in the history of the Old West. But none is more notorious, revered or feared than their leader, a charismatic young outlaw by the name of Jesse James.

"American Outlaws" is to Jesse James as "Young Guns" was to Billy The Kid. The historical background and story of those characters is basically irrelevant. All that is important is that a entertaining film is created for the masses to enjoy. If people are willing to look past the horrid pacing (Time jumps from on point in time to two weeks or 8 months later without a moments notice), the unnecessary/boring/fastly paced romance, or the lack of true bloodshed or violence (Movie is PG-13)...then you may be in for a real treat. Yes, yes..I know with all those faults it SOUNDS a lot less possible. But I did honestly find myself walking out of the theatre not upset with the money I just slapped down for this film.

Like Young Guns, "American Outlaws" basically uses the name Jesse James and some of the names around it to create a story for itself. In this case, Jesse James becomes more of a vengeful Robin Hood esque figure. With the exception of Jesse James and Cole Younger all the remaining characters can be interchanged with each other cause little to know development is done for them. Instead, the film dabbles into the relationship of those two..and then uses the speed of most of this MTV generations TV shows and movies...BREAKNECK. Because the script for this movie is so horrible, its good the film moves a long so fast. It almost gives you a chance to miss the piss poor script. However, flashes of horrid-ness show in the death of the James boys mother and other various spots in the film.

If bloody westerns are your thing, stay away here. However if you're looking for a little adventure film with some nice humor and a nice leading man to get behind...this movie delivers. It is certainly not a classic, but for me its one of those 'B' films you keep in the back of the video closet to pull out when you're in that "Young Guns", "Mario Bros", "American Outlaws" type of mood.

This movie can't even be said in the same breath as the last great western (1993's "Tombstone"), but it is a halfway decent little 'B' flick that I liked a lot more than I probably should have.

Rating: 1/2 out of four.

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