Life is complicated. Even more so in the old west. Natalie Portman's passion project,
Jane Got A Gun, wants to remind us of this and ultimately that what we perceive as good and bad aren't as easy to differentiate between as most would like to believe. What was even more complicated though, was the long and tumultuous road it took to get this project to the big screen. After several pre-production delays that included original director Lynne Ramsey exiting the project on the same day shooting was scheduled to begin it was difficult to see how the film might come out unscathed. Pair this with the exit of star Jude Law and a roster of other actors including Bradley Cooper coming in and out for the role that was finally filled by Ewan McGregor and you have what is sure to be nothing short of a downright catastrophe. Eventually though, director Gavin O'Connor (
Warrior) took over the reins and enlisted the help of his
Warrior star Joel Edgerton to what now, having seen the film, is a wholly serviceable and often times even compelling western that hardly shows any of the scars it garnered along the way. From a story and script originally crafted by Brian Duffield (
Insurgent) it seems that once O'Connor was brought on board that he utilized both Edgerton (a writer and director himself) and
Warrior screenwriter Anthony Tambakis to punch up the script and it is here where we find the first of many things to admire about the film. From the opening moments, set in dusty 1871 New Mexico, as Portman's titular Jane tells her daughter a bedtime story it is made clear the position of the three main characters in the story and where they fall into the plot while not making it clear where they might fall into one another's lives. This structuring of mystery around each of our main characters and their past and how they might intertwine with one another is what hooks the audience and while the first twenty or so minutes may seem to drag and ostensibly be vague for no other purpose than being vague the film hits its stride within the first half hour and from there briskly unravels a heartbreaking narrative of love, loss, and the will to do what it takes to keep on keepin' on.
