By Erin Free
Worth: $18.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Brandon Lessard, Pierce Brosnan, Veronica Ferres, Q'orianka Kilcher, Gianni Capaldi, David Arquette, Samuel L. Jackson
Intro:
...a stellar example of how good the contemporary western genre can be.
The death knell of the western is frequently heard, but this most deeply American of genres never actually dies… it’s too resilient, too tough, too singular, and just too goddamn essential for that. While the heyday of this great genre has certainly passed, the western is a true survivor, and while the major studios have largely abandoned it, the western lives on in television (courtesy of Yellowstone and its spin-offs) and indie cinema, with relatively recent fine examples like Hostiles (2017), Blackthorn (2011), Black ’47 (2018), Damsel (2018), The Redeemer (2022), Dead For A Dollar (2022) and The Dead Don’t Hurt (2024). Australian director Richard Gray is now making himself at home in the western genre after delivering a handful of impressive local flicks (Summer Coda, Blinder) and rock-solid internationals (Sugar Mountain, Robert the Bruce). Gray’s first western – 2022’s Murder at Yellowstone City – was a sturdy, well-composed example of the genre, and his new one, The Unholy Trinity, is even better.
When his father is hanged for a crime that he claims he didn’t commit, Henry Broadway (engaging newcomer Brandon Lessard) returns to his home town of Trinity in Montana to reclaim his family legacy. But with lies, buried gold, deceit and a disparate collection of curiously connected characters involved – upstanding Irish sheriff Gabriel Dove (Pierce Brosnan); his hardy wife (Veronica Ferres) Sarah; outsider Native American Running Cub (Q’orianka Kilcher); impassioned agitator Gideon (Gianni Capaldi); duplicitous preacher Father Jacob (David Arquette); and the sinister St. Christopher (Samuel L. Jackson) – Henry’s mission will not be that simple.
A winning mix of genre tropes and interpersonal relationships, The Unholy Trinity sees director Richard Gray and fellow Aussie screenwriter Lee Zachariah paying respect to the western genre without being beholden to it. This is certainly no revisionist assault, but the Aussie duo put just as much emphasis on what’s happening between their characters as they do on gun battles… though there are certainly plenty of those too, and they are incredibly well staged and calibrated for maximum emotional effect. Boasting superb and wholly committed performances from all concerned, a fine sense of economic pacing, plentiful scenes of horses charging across the stunning Montana landscape, and a narrative that grips effortlessly through its inventive twists and turns, The Unholy Trinity is a stellar example of how good the contemporary western genre can be.
