Diagonaldi Very well executed

Clevercell Very disappointing...

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

GazerRise Fantastic!

oneguyrambling Getting the obvious out of the way The Horseman has nothing to do with horses or the men who ride them. I cannot fathom what the title has to do with anything to be honest.If anyone can help me please do.Peter Marshall is Christian – it says so right on his shirt – he is a pest control man who drives a van and carries with him a big toolbox full of all sorts of handy stuff… for the next hour and a half he uses many of these tools to inflict pain and remove body parts all up and down the East coast of Australia.The Horseman starts with a brutal killing and doesn't let up until the credits roll. When Christian discovers his teenage daughter has died he is distraught. When a VHS video arrives in his mailbox showing his daughter in an apparent stupor being tag teamed by multiple guys he sorta loses the plot.Fair enough too.Christian spends the next few days getting to the bottom of things, making sure he needn't backtrack by dealing with each and every responsible party at the time he meets them. Where ethics and fairness get blurred is where it seems that more innocent – or at least less guilty – members often receive the same treatment as the deserving. But don't worry the deserving cop more than their share, as does Christian as he deals out his form of justice.The fact that Christian does precious little preparation means that he is perhaps ill-equipped to even be on this mission, but fuelled by rage and armed with his toolbox and a nasty little pocket knife he makes do very nicely thanks very much.His only traveling companion is a young girl named Alice who has thumbed a ride – and who also seems to be on the run from something herself – it seems Christian sees her as somewhat of a daughter figure, which motivates him further at times. He also uses Alice to trigger some flashbacks to further propel the story and fill in the blanks of the circumstances surrounding his daughter's last days.I guess it would be fair to compare this film to Kevin Bacon's effort in Death Sentence, but this film is far grittier and doesn't bother too much with morals or pure justice. There are no movie star looking actors in bit roles, no neat and tidy ending or moral to take away. Christian cops as much sh*t as he dishes out, and he dishes plenty, but nothing goes smoothly and he very nearly buys it on multiple occasions.This is maybe the darkest, most revengiest film since Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, though without the intertwined story of that film nor the flashy execution. The Horseman is straightline stuff, see bad guy and kill him, move to the next one. Christian doesn't waste much time with dialogue or pussyfooting around his topics, he is desperate, angry and single minded, and judging by the variation in his methods more than a little unbalanced.Given what is written above it should be no secret that this is at times gloomy and difficult viewing and will not be for everyone. It isn't the dreaded torture porn though for a couple of moments it steers a little close to the breeze, but it is exceedingly violent – don't expect guys clutching at their chests and falling to a big unseen mat filled with air, not when the weapons on display are crowbars, pliers and blowtorches among many other things.Handy Manny would be appalled at such inappropriate use of maintenance equipment.Don't expect to watch The Horseman for a fun time or flashy action sequences and smooth moves, this is a brutal tale of an exceedingly driven and perhaps mentally unbalanced man on his own misguided personal mission. But that said it is a good example of a revenge film and does what it sets out to do.Final Rating – 7 / 10. There is a saying never get between a lioness and her cub – well the old king lion gets more than a little annoyed too – and he has bigger claws....

Leofwine_draca Imagine a stylish, modern, ultra-dark and gritty re-run of the Liam Neeson actioner TAKEN, made on a tiny budget in Australia, and you'll be close to THE HORSEMAN, a film that takes visceral action to new levels of extremism. In a nutshell, the film's about revenge: a grieving father discovers that his daughter appeared in a porn film shortly before her death and goes to track down the men who coerced her into it. He wants nothing more than to beat their brains in with a crowbar, and that's exactly what he does.So far, so par for the course when it comes to exploitation. Where THE HORSEMAN wins plaudits is in its intensity: there are a series of brutal action sequences as pulse-pounding as those in the Bourne films and the script never lets up when it comes to anger, sadism and vengeance. The performances elicited from an unknown cast are very down to earth and realistic, particularly Peter Marshall's depiction of a grieving father seeking revenge.The violence is extreme and also realistic, often gratuitous. I feel the film oversteps the boundaries of taste at the climatic torture sequence, which delves into sexual violence unexpectedly and left me feeling sickened; it's clear that HOSTEL was an inspiration for this sequence and I can't help but feel that the film would have done better without it. Still, aside from this misstep, THE HORSEMAN hearkens back to the gritty downbeat revenge films of the 1970s, where lack of budget and scope was never a problem for a filmmaker with a dark story to tell.

Cinema_Fan The Horseman, a product of Australian cinema, is simply an amazing piece of work; it is a grim and stark journey. Centring around the aftershock of the death of layman Christian's (played here by Peter Marshall with astonishing composure and calm, and too, his first major lead role in a movie) teenage daughter from a drug overdose, her somewhat voluntary involvement in an extremely seedy part of the sex industry and the progression of a father's wrath and bloodletting fury of revenge and retribution.It's a reflective look into the plight of an anguished father and the road trip he must take to find the parasites that took a part in the exploitation of innocence and the poetic justice one must serve upon the guilty.The subject matter is done with a scent of finesse that holds an air of admiration and respect for this guilt-ridden father, he's nasty, he's mean but he's also driven and director, writer, producer and editor Steven Kastrissios, along with cinematographer Mark Broadbent, and in particular the stunt department, have shown, once again, that Australian cinema is a tour de force to be recognised, and respected.With its magnificent and complex fight sequences, tight direction and empathetic undercurrent, the overall tone is not done to the extremes that it may seem an overdose of violence for the sake of violence. Not for one-minute does the slaughter, both visually and physically, feel too contrived, it may be a harrowing experience, and journey too, for the viewer, as too the father who has now crossed the line, but its pacing between each bloody action brings the film back to the point of honesty.We are left viewing, literally, on the edge of our seats as the plight runs a wry and we are constantly left unknowing as to what may happen next, and to whom and how. It's all an adrenalin rush of mixed emotions of revelation, sympathy, disgust, shock and compassion, such is the power of the delivery of Steven Kastrissios's work here.Transcending beyond the blurred sanity, The Horseman is a brutal reminder of a subculture that tests the morals of those who dare to question its ethics' and looks into the mind of those who have found the answer; crossing boundaries and finding new strengths, it's a rude wakening that in the murky mist of illicit brutality, at times even the wrong answer may be the only alternative.

vitaleralphlouis Not a western but a current era movie from Australia -- one of the most brutal, and most rewarding, films of the year. It deals with a father who's lost his daughter to the forces of the pornography business, and what he does about it.The man is not a karate expert, nor is he Special Forces, nor does he look like Steven Segal, nor does he own a gun. A blue collar worker of average build, he uses the skills and resources he has, along with his absolute determination to effect justice. There's much to be said for the power of a man who is truly fearless of pain. Along the way, he meets a troubled teen named Alice and he will try to fix her as well.If you ever mention pornography to a Liberal, expect a reaction similar to using the N-word, a shrug-of-rejection brush-off. Yet Liberals (here in the USA) worked tirelessly for 25 years through the ACLU and other organizations to assure absolute freedom of the porn industry to flourish in America.Indeed for 20 years they've been free to publish anything and everything (as our Founding Fathers obviously intended as a prime goal of the Constitution, so they say). Not only without legal interference, but with generous postal subsidy. Now they've "advanced" from pictures of semi-nude girls (the norm in '73) to "models" having simultaneous intercourse with 3 men at one time (the norm today).The makers of this film are obviously angry. They have good reason, I think.