Yeah, another Western, had to wait for the wife to not be home so I could dive into a genre she hates. Anyway, it's odd how sex and nudity seem out of place in westerns given that in real life prostitution thrived. Historically a lot of what this film is about could be true. But... it doesn't feel like it should be in a Western. Racism and violence, yeah, those can make it in and feel right. Prostitution, certainly... but in a not seen sort of way. But I don't know, it's a lot of John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart with Clint Eastwood bringing up the rear that sort of defines the genre for people my age. That being said... it's dark. But it's done right, and it's well acted, and it plays on the emotions something fierce, it's well acted, it's moody. In other words it's an insanely well done movie, despite that fact that it deals with subject matter that you don't expect coming into a western. Insanely well done.

**A good Western, despite its weaknesses.** Many decades ago, Italian Western films were a huge success and guaranteed the careers of several actors, such as Clint Eastwood, and directors like Sergio Leone. This film, however, is neither Italian nor American: despite being spoken in English and featuring North American actors, it is a film directed by the Dutch (Martin Koolhoven and his team), shot in Spain and where Hungarians and Austrians also collaborated. Out of this Babel of nationalities, however, emerged a good Western film. The plot is the strongest point of this film, which wonderfully works the epic style and a tension that grows, chapter by chapter (was I the only one to see in this chapter organization and non-linear narrative some influence by Tarantino?). I won't reveal too much about the plot, but I think I won't spoil anyone's enjoyment if I say that everything revolves around a young woman who tries to escape from a crazed Protestant pastor who is determined to kill her, no matter the place or the circumstances. The film builds an absolutely detestable and maniacal villain, and gives the female character the gifts and strength to defeat him, and to captivate us with sympathy. The film is not perfect, there are logic flaws, continuity flaws and absurd situations. But the film nevertheless entertains the audience very well. Guy Pearce stands out the most, giving life to a captivating and execrable villain. The actor is excellent and gives us the best work of his career so far. Dakota Fanning holds the central female character and handles the task at hand well, but I felt several times that she doesn't have a challenging task. Kit Harrington can complain even more, since he saw his character killed early and didn't have time to show talent, despite the film being almost two and a half hours long. Regarding the length, I am of the opinion that it would have been better with about thirty minutes less, and that this denotes a certain sloppiness in the editing and in the selection of the scenes that should have been in the final cut. The film is impactful, it is quite violent, realistic and not suitable for teenagers, impressionable people and animal lovers (as far as I know, no one was hurt in the filming, but there are several intense scenes that include animals). The sets and costumes were very well-designed, despite the fact that the film works in a certain temporal limbo in which it is very difficult to have a sense of the time in which everything happens (somewhere between 1880 and 1910?). The scenarios are also very good, and the soundtrack was very well conceived.

An extremely grim and unsettling horror-Western with an interestingly structured plot, ‘Brimstone’ can be found either disgusting or superb; I'll go with the latter. 8/10