"Jane Got a Gun" Review

Title: Jane Got a Gun

Directed by: Gavin O'Connor

Screenplay by: Anthony Tambakis, Joel Edgerton, and Brian Duffield

Year: 2016


Jane Got a Gun is a film that was in production hell for years. Many cast and crew changes, production issues, delays, it was a nightmare. Not only that, but it is being released in January. But then you look at this cast and the film has some promise. And then the trailer that was released was pretty good. So how does Jane Got a Gun fair?

Jane's husband, Bill Hammond, returns home severely injured after a run-in with the Bishop Boys. She seeks the help of an ex-lover, hoping he can help protect Hammond from Bishop Boys, who are seeking him out for a bounty.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a great cast. Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, Noah Emmerich, and Ewan McGregor are all great actors. Unfortunately, their performances leave a lot to be desired. All of their characters come across as incredibly wooden. Each one lacks any sort of emotional depth. The movie centers around Portman but her performance is not strong enough to warrant it. She has an awfully bad crying scene in the film that does not show her true talent. Ewan McGregor is a terribly uninteresting villain, but the potential is definitely visible. That potential is trying to burst out but it never does. Noah Emmerich is barely in the film and hardly gets a line, so he is not very memorable. Joel Edgerton is probably the most interesting character and though his performance is pretty dull, it sort of matches his character. The fact that all of these great actors give stale performances tells me that this was a directorial choice, which begs the question; why?

The film tells what is essentially a love story, with a bit of a revenge tale thrown in there. This story is skin deep. It shallow enough to the point where it can only fill a 93 minute runtime. It is very difficult to emotionally invest in a love story when the characters do not portray the needed emotions. There are a number of flashbacks about the love story and how Jane was in love with Edgerton's character and how she ended up with Hammond. The actually takes a break from the Bishop Boys story to give us a couple flashbacks and these are the low points of the film. Since we are not invested in the romance, we do not care about these sequences.

Gavin O'Connor does an okay job directing. There are some creative camera angles and some of the framing is great, but there are also many moments where the camera seems out of focus and it shakes about a lot. In addition, the film has a very dull air to it. The characters are one note, the story is shallow, and even the shootout is underwhelming. The location looks beautiful but the sets are very dark and dour.

Jane Got a Gun is also an extremely mis-titled film. With such a title, you would expect Jane to be a strong character or at least one who has a character arc that leaves her in power by the end. However, she spends most of the film needing to be saved. Also, and I would not count this as a spoiler, she already has a gun, multiple guns actually. Throughout the film, she uses guns. So should it not be called "Jane Has a Gun"?

The film has a few positives that I touched upon earlier, but what is hands down the best thing to come out of this film is the score. The music is powerful and captures the western vibe, albeit a bit differently. It feels off-the-cuff, almost as if it is building towards something. The heavy use of drums is surprisingly effective. Marcelle De Francisci and Lisa Gerrard did a fantastic job composing the music as it is actually the standout feature of the picture.

Jane Got a Gun is not so much a terrible picture as it is an uninteresting one. Everything feels very bland and hollow. There is no emotional bridge between the characters and the audience, the performances are disappointing, and many choices made are very questionable. The score is the main takeaway and the scenery is lovely to look at, but this fails to be a darker sort of western, which has worked in the past. Unlike some of the more popular westerns, Unforgiven is not what you would call a fun film. It is dark and often depressing. But it works because the characters are fleshed out, the story is insanely interesting, and the villain is wonderful. That is an engaging film. Jane Got a Gun, is not.

Grade: D+