Bronson plays a writer to tracks the murder of a Mormon family to a water company looking to buy land rights from relatives. Still solid effort from Golan-Globus production team as they moved beyond their peak.

At times tender, but unceasingly spirited, this film really makes you think.
Bronson's heartfelt performance is stunning.

2.5 stars! it was ok!

Yet another in the seemingly endless list of J. Lee Thompson-directed Bronson vehicles. This film has many of the trademarks of the Bronson/Thompson films (mainly, Bronson playing a character so tough he can eat nails, melt them down in the mighty f... (read more) Yet another in the seemingly endless list of J. Lee Thompson-directed Bronson vehicles. This film has many of the trademarks of the Bronson/Thompson films (mainly, Bronson playing a character so tough he can eat nails, melt them down in the mighty forge of his bowels, then reshape them into a length of steel pipe, crap it out and beat a baddie to death with it) but also manages to inject some much-needed variations into the formula.

Bronson's character in the film is an investigative journalist seeking insight into a series of brutal killings in a Mormon fundamentalist community in Colorado. That alone makes the story a bit different - for once, Bronson isn't a cop or a P.I., and for most of the film we're in a sort of rural mountain environment as opposed to the usual gritty cityscape.

J. Lee Thompson showed me something here, featuring a number of truly stunning vistas of the Colorado landscape (assuming that's where it was shot, but it does look like what I've seen personally of that area) and a car/truck chase that was inventively staged and had a lot of impact.

I think the inspiration for this film may have been the Lafferty killings (a controversial set of murders committed by Mormon fundamentalists in the early 80s - the inspiration for the excellent book "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer). If that's the case, it could explain some of the treatment of the film's Mormons as somewhat cultish - closed to outsiders and prone to various arcane religious practices.

The whole thing devolves (evolves?) into a series of bloody fights about... water use rights, which is something you don't see everyday in a Bronson vehicle. It's not all religion and riparian rights, though - there's a bit where Bronson beats up a baddie, and then causes him to confess all his crimes just on the mere threat of the beating continuing. The guy spills his guts in front of a crowded ballroom rather than take one more punch from Bronson's grizzled meathooks.

Bottom line - better than the average J. Lee-directed Bronson flick. Not a classic, but I think the average watcher could get something out of it.

Good movie... Maybe just not enough action after a vicious start. Still good though