Overall I was disappointed. I didn't feel my patience for 90 minutes was rewarded. We often heard the phrase "like watching paint dry" and that was just about it for me.
I saw it on Netflix streaming movies, so all I am out is my time. After 20 minutes of very slow moving "story" which really was no story at all, I turned it off to read a few reviews. I saw that it had a 6.8 IMDb rating, which is pretty good, and the critic Ebert gave it a very favorable review. So I decided to see all of it for the pay-off at the end.
There was no pay-off. The whole movie was a slice of time during the travels of three families and their three covered wagons across barren Oregon in 1845. Their guide was a Mr. Meeks who assured them he knew of the "cut off" to get them there quicker. But eventually they all accepted they were lost, running out of food and water, and wondering if they would die out there.
They did capture an Indian, hoping he would lead them to water, since he had no food or water on him so they figured he knew where to go. But he didn't speak their language and they didn't speak his. He ended up wandering around with them.
The cast is good, Michelle Williams was Emily Tetherow, young wife of Will Patton as Soloman Tetherow . Bruce Greenwood is unrecognizable in his long beard as Stephen Meek . And Rod Rondeaux who has a lot of experience as a stunt man is good as The Indian .
The movie is, in fact, a very good movie for what it is, a glimpse into how it probably really was, the great risk and difficulty crossing to Oregon and reaching the Columbia River valley back in the 1800s. But it is not the type of movie I was hoping to see with no real plot and no resolution, so I was overall disappointed.
I saw it on Netflix streaming movies, so all I am out is my time. After 20 minutes of very slow moving "story" which really was no story at all, I turned it off to read a few reviews. I saw that it had a 6.8 IMDb rating, which is pretty good, and the critic Ebert gave it a very favorable review. So I decided to see all of it for the pay-off at the end.
There was no pay-off. The whole movie was a slice of time during the travels of three families and their three covered wagons across barren Oregon in 1845. Their guide was a Mr. Meeks who assured them he knew of the "cut off" to get them there quicker. But eventually they all accepted they were lost, running out of food and water, and wondering if they would die out there.
They did capture an Indian, hoping he would lead them to water, since he had no food or water on him so they figured he knew where to go. But he didn't speak their language and they didn't speak his. He ended up wandering around with them.
The cast is good, Michelle Williams was Emily Tetherow, young wife of Will Patton as Soloman Tetherow . Bruce Greenwood is unrecognizable in his long beard as Stephen Meek . And Rod Rondeaux who has a lot of experience as a stunt man is good as The Indian .
The movie is, in fact, a very good movie for what it is, a glimpse into how it probably really was, the great risk and difficulty crossing to Oregon and reaching the Columbia River valley back in the 1800s. But it is not the type of movie I was hoping to see with no real plot and no resolution, so I was overall disappointed.