The Big Picture

The film starts off with energy, but quickly loses steam as it meanders through character relationships.
Mario Van Peebles has fun in the lead role, but the film fails to fully develop the characters and their world.
Despite good intentions,
Outlaw Posse
is a superficial Western that struggles to find depth and engaging storytelling.

There is something occasionally charming about Outlaw Posse. Alas, charm can only get you so far when a film resembles more of a scattered work of cosplay than a robust cinematic work. A Western starring Mario Van Peebles, which he also writes and directs, it is built around all the familiar aspects of the genre. There are shootouts in bars, buried riches to be found, and the assembling of a team to do so. If you’ve seen any Western, you’ve seen Outlaw Posse. This isn’t always a bad thing, as some films can find something fun in well-worn tropes. This one, despite some pointed dialogue here and there, ultimately does not. Never quite rising to the level necessary to be classified as a thoughtful pastiche while not being silly enough to be more of a true parody, it is all incredibly sincere though ultimately superficial. Peebles and the cast are having fun, but it’s a mighty bumpy ride.

What Is ‘Outlaw Posse’ About?

This all begins with Chief (Peebles) who we meet as he shoots some sense into a racist group of cowboys that wander into a bar. It’s a wonderful introduction that the film regrettably can’t keep up the fun of. We then flash forward to a couple of months later where we meet Chief’s son Decker (Mandela Van Peebles) whose family is threatened and his wife kidnapped by the villainous Angel (William Mapother) so that he’ll infiltrate his father’s posse that is looking for long-buried gold. Thus, after the group assembles à la The Magnificent Seven, the film sets off into the American West where they’ll find plenty of gunfights, some terrible CGI explosions, and shaky production design. There also is an extended reference to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. However, where that remains the ultimate bromance movie, this film is primarily about the relationship between father and son. As Chief and Decker start to reconnect in tough circumstances, they have a lot of making up for lost time to do.

The film is best in the conversation scenes, as opposed to the ones that are built around so-so action. When they hitch a ride with Stagecoach Mary (Whoopi Goldberg) and get a chance to just share some time when they aren’t being shot at, you start to see glimpses of a more interesting portrait emerging. It’s no Meek’s Cutoff or anything, but there is something a bit more engaging to just seeing the characters bounce off each other. Later, when they stumble upon a community that feels built around compassion and kindness in a harsh world, the clear point being made is a little saccharine though still plenty genuine. One almost wishes that we could sit in this energy a bit longer so that we could get to know these characters and how the traveling posse could fit into the situation. Of course, we don’t spend long here and instead move on to the next situation. Some of this exists to add some wrinkles to what we just saw, as we see some are living on the margins of this utopia, though it is communicated with such heavy-handed dialogue and music that it cheapens the scene. There is a cathartic bringing of justice eventually, but it’s all too pat to truly feel earned.

Stumbling from one of these scenes to the next, the film becomes so shaggy that it almost starts to come apart. While Chief and Decker are being pursued, there is rarely any urgency to the affair. There is one moment where the son warns the father that they should be moving faster, but this just plays as an attempt to paper over a rather glaring flaw with a half-hearted line that doesn’t hold any weight. It often reduces their relationship to one where Decker is dragged down to being the deliverer of periodic reminders about the timeline that they are under. Where there was something to being alongside them on the stagecoach just talking about themselves and their lives, much gets lost elsewhere. The people that they help along the way are reduced to similarly being there to prove a point and then deliver a bit of exposition rather than feeling like fully formed characters. Before we can get to know them beyond broad strokes, we’re onto the next location or shifting away to get an update on what Angel is up to. While Mapother makes the most of some of the clunky lines he gets as the villain, he isn’t given much of anything substantive to do except stroll into a place, deliver some menacing dialogue, and then keep going. Even when you think something more significant is going to happen and we’ll see what he is capable of, the film proceeds to blink. Whether this is because there wasn’t the production budget for a more violent confrontation or it’s just more scattered writing, the generally lackluster outcome remains the same.

‘Outlaw Posse’ Is a Western in Search of Something More
Image via Submersive Media 

As we then continue to coast to the end, the film proceeds to increasingly wander before the final confrontation. There is a drug trip sequence that creates what could be a striking mirror effect that instead looks rather sloppy. It attempts to tell us everything that is going on in Chief’s mind and something closer to his inner emotional state, though this too soon passes almost as quickly as it starts. It is possibly about trying to communicate a fear he has for his son, but there is just little substance to this elsewhere. Some of the pieces are there, but they’re just arranged a bit too loosely to hit home. From this relationship between father and son that never quite gets into much depth until when it rushes to do so at the very end or the broader struggles facing the country they encounter, there is never a moment that is anything short of wholehearted in its intention. It just can’t grab hold of that heart in execution.

Outlaw Posse REVIEWOutlaw Posse is a sincere though ultimately superficial Western that never finds what it seems to be looking for. ProsThe opening to the film is fun with Mario Van Peebles really relishing the role. ConsThe rest of the film is not able to match the energy of the opening.The film is often meandering, failing to go into depth with both the characters and the world.Though well-intentioned, the execution of what the film is going for leaves much to be desired.

Outlaw Posse is in theaters starting March 1. Click below for showtimes.

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