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| Images courtesy of Tubi Films |
American
martial artist, former Batman: The
Animated Series screenwriter and Bubba
Ho-Tep novelist Joe R. Lansdale’s 2013 pulpy western The Thicket has been a long gestating passion project for actor
Peter Dinklage as far back as 2014. Originally
starting pre-production in 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and
delayed production all the way to 2023, it’s an ensemble wintry Western action
thriller with hints of Southern Gothic sardonic flair spoken of the same breath
as The Great Silence or more recently
The Hateful Eight featuring Juliette
Lewis, Metallica frontman James Hetfield,
Macon Blair and even Arliss Howard as an old testament preacher leaving ample
room for a Lewis-Howard Natural Born
Killers reunion. Moreover, as part
of the limited theatrical distribution deal via Samuel Goldwyn Films, the film
is owned outright by American ad-supported streaming service Tubi Films and
represents the latest digital movie giant to crossover into theatrical film
production and distribution.
Jack
Parker (Levon Hawke) and his sister Lula (Esme Creed-Miles) are just trying to
survive a smallpox epidemic in Southeastern Texas which already claimed both of
their parents when they’re accosted by a ragtag group of bandits led by feral
woman Cut Throat Bill (Juliette Lewis) who murder their grandfather but not
before kidnapping Lula and leaving Jack for dead. With no one or nowhere to turn to for help in
tracking down and rescuing his sister, he happens upon a bounty-hunter dwarf
named Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage) and his grave-digging ex-slave partner
played by Gbenga Akinnagbe who agree to help for a price. Picking up street-smart prostitute Jimmy Sue
(Leslie Grace) in tow as a fellow gunslinger, the unlikely foursome heads into
the labyrinthine Big Thicket forest of Southeast Texas in pursuit of the
bandits in the hopes of reuniting Jack with his sister Lula.
Partially
a Western survival action thriller set in the snowy winter set during a
pandemic, partially a soul searching exercise for Peter Dinklage in his most
involving role since Cyrano while
playing off of the threatening deadly rattlesnake energies of Juliette Lewis in
her most ferocious role since Mallory Knox in Natural Born Killers, The
Thicket while inevitably going to streaming is a scope widescreen panoramic
snapshot of the gritty unforgiving nature of the Old West. Largely set out in the open woods in the
middle of the winter which had to have proven difficult for the cast and crew,
it marks a refreshing mixture of faithfully adapting the novel while channeling
Dinklage’s own obsessions, frailties and emotional weathers onscreen.
From
start to finish, The Thicket looks
splendid in scope panoramic 2.35:1 widescreen by Don’t Tell a Soul cinematographer Guillermo Garza who films Canada
standing in for Texas beautifully in all of its icy wintry splendor. Though inevitably going to the small screen
where most viewers will see it, this is definitely a big-screen piece with
occasionally staggering vistas for being an otherwise tightly budgeted
production. The moody ambient,
quasi-electronic score by Ray Suen represents the musical and soundtrack
department manager’s first original compositional work in music that sounds not
wholly unlike the brooding low hum melodies of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
The
ensemble cast across the board is solid with Wildcat and Blink Twice actor
Levon Hawke turning over a serviceable leading performance as the beleaguered
brother Jack trying to save his sister.
Veteran actors Juliette Lewis with her deep near-masculine voice and
fierce eyes as well as Arliss Howard in a glorified cameo light the screen on
fire. Though make no mistake, this
project from top to bottom is 100% Peter Dinklage’s film. From the themes to the characterization to
the amount of latitude the role granted the actor, he’s unquestionably the
heart and soul radiating through this thing.
Oh and Metallica fans will
enjoy seeing James Hetfield onscreen despite recent gripes made he doesn’t
enjoy acting that much.
Given a
limited theatrical run on September 6th precluding the eventual
streaming premiere, The Thicket is a
fully digital workflow project of an American western which feels curiously
like a modestly sized Spaghetti Western quickie. Full of a mashup of characters reminiscent of
Lucio Fulci’s Four of the Apocalypse
with equal emphasis on racial politics of the time, sexual dynamics and an
unlikely surrogate family unit unified by their shared desire for money and
settling down, it’s a nice little rough and ragged snow and ice covered western
thriller and character study piece for Dinklage who clearly strongly identifies
with the character of Reginald Jones.
Though intended for online digital viewing on the ad-supported service
eventually, those keen on the resurgence of the modestly sized American western
are inclined to see this on the big screen ad-free while they still can. An unlikely solid little gem of an action
adventure thriller in the Old West.
--Andrew Kotwicki
