He Won’t Steal A Horse, But He Will Steal Ninety Minutes

A feared name rides into town, a daughter learns to survive by instruction, and a revenge story promises a blaze that never quite catches. We take you through The Old Way, Nicolas Cage’s lone Western, and unpack why a setup dripping with frontier myth feels so restrained on screen. From the opening execution that seeds a lifetime grudge to the home invasion that lights the fuse, we track the film’s choices: a marshal who narrates legend instead of chasing it, outlaws who overexplain their plans, and a town standoff that ends before it ever really burns.

What grabbed us isn’t the gunplay—it’s the unsettling bond between a hyper-literal father and daughter. She sorts jelly beans by color and practices crying like a task; he teaches field surgery beside a gunfight and draws hard lines like “I ain’t no horse thief” while hunting men across the desert. We dig into whether the movie hints at neurodivergence or simply uses flat affect as a genre mask, and how that lens reframes love, grief, and competence on the frontier. Along the way, we call out the moments that sing: the clean symbolism of burning the homestead, the tactile rhythm of whiskey, iron, and grit, and Ryan Kiera Armstrong’s cool, grounded performance.

Still, fans expecting John Wick in spurs may feel shortchanged. Sets blur, action cuts away, and the finale lands with a thud rather than a thunderclap. We compare it to True Grit, Equalizer-era action led by aging icons, and the broader Western playbook—frontier justice, outlaw codes, reputation as currency—to ask what makes a modern Western hit. Then we close with ratings and sharp Letterboxd reads that echo our mixed verdict: a watchable curio with sparks of character, dimmed by a script that tells us a legend instead of letting us see it.

If you enjoyed the breakdown, subscribe, share with a Western-loving friend, and drop your rating in a review—did The Old Way earn its legend or holster it too soon?

Hey there, podcast pals! Need a morning boost? Look no further than Dunkin' Donuts! Our freshly brewed coffee and irresistible donuts are the perfect way to kick-start your day. From classic favorites to new flavors, there's something for everyone. Join DD Perks for exclusive rewards with every purchase. Swing by your nearest Dunkin' today and treat yourself to something special. Dunkin' Delights – making mornings brighter, one sip at a time! 

 Hey, everyone! Like, super exciting news! Fan mail has been added to our podcast! We totally love hearing from you, so if you have any questions, comments, or just wanna say hi, click the link above the description. We might even feature you in an upcoming episode! So, don't be shy—click that link and share your thoughts. Okay, now back to the show

Want more of Second Emulation? Stay connected with us by following our social media channels! By clicking the link below to stay up to date with us on our socials and Game review streaming channel.

https://www.arcadeveritas.com

Transcript

 

Welcome to Second Emulation!

 📍 Hi, hello, welcome to Second Emulation! Okay, you are just so lucky right now, because you are literally about to spend, like, the best time with my amazing friend, Shawn.

He is, like, the expert on all things movies, anime, and gaming, and he just has, like, the best opinions. Seriously, talking to him is, like, a whole thing, in the best way.

So, get comfy, maybe with a little drink I don't know, a kombucha, a latte, whatever is your thing because Shawn is going to take you on, like, a total journey.

Okay, luv that.

Welcome back to another episode of Second Emulation. I'm your host Sean with my sister 

Kiley. 

I like to thank Emily for that great intro. 

Introducing the Movie: The Old Way

So we watched another Nick Cage movie and this one is gonna be a little bit different. Um, this is a Western movie. It's 

the only western. Done. 

Yeah. This is the only Western Nick Cage has done, and to be 

honest, of course we're talking about the Old Way 

and it 

just came out in 2023.

Yeah. 

Nick Cage's Western Debut

The movie we're watching is the Old Way, and I'm. I'm actually stunned and shocked because I feel like this type of setting and this type of, genre for film suits Nick Cage. 

Yeah. I would say I'm, I'm actually more surprised that he hasn't done another western that this, that he waited, what, 40 plus years before he.

I guess he's not that old. He's like 60, so maybe like 30 years, whatever. He waited most of his career before he committed to a Western, and then this is the western he committed to. Mm-hmm. Um, interesting to me. But yeah. Let's, uh, let's get into it. 

Let's get into it. 

So it just came out a couple years ago.

Plot Breakdown and Initial Impressions

It's the plot, the synopsis reads, you can outnumber him, but you can't outfight him an old gunslinger and his daughter must face the consequences of consequences of his past when the son of a man he killed years ago arrives to take his revenge. So yeah, that's what it opens to when you start watching the movie.

He is. Got a mustache. 

He ha Yeah, he he has a porn mustache. A 

mustache, yeah. Like, you know those evil villains where they twist it like that? 

Or my sister, what you called it, a grieving mustache. 

Oh yeah. 

It's like, I don't know what he's grieving. 

I thought he was grieving, so I was like, oh, you, he's grieving.

I don't know. I thought this started. It was at the, I thought it was at the part, you know the where movies start, where the action is taking place and then they're gonna go back and tell you what led to this moment. Mm-hmm. So I thought it was a grieving mustache and I was like, oh, that's to signify time has passed.

So perhaps the grew that because he's sad. And then we found out that was no, that was him in his past. He had a really nice mustache and that, you know, he shaves it to signify time has passed. So not that it matters, but I that's where I was, was at. No, 

Character Analysis: Nick Cage's Role

it, it doesn't matter. But it's like this film itself is kind of like, based on the, the tagline is a revenge story, which.

There are multiple different type of, westerns, futuristic, modern day in the past. Like revenge stories are like a common theme in the film industry to do multiple times. 'cause it's a tale all this time. Even fucking John Wick is a revenge story. And that takes, that's a revenge story that takes up.

Four films. I No three films. Three or 

four. Four, 

four films, you know, so we, people love Avenge or avenge movies. 

I mean, we all love our revenge plot. That's kind of, that's kind of what we do. But in, in this case he is, I guess what he is a, he is just a, I guess he's a gun slinger. I don't know. I that's what they 

called him.

He could be, he could be like a hired gun. So like either a bounty hunter or a higher gun for like protection. 'cause he, he has to get paid. 

Yeah. And he ends up, so someone's being hanged at the beginning of the movie for crimes as they do in the west old west. 

The Revenge Plot Unfolds

Old Wild West and, and, uh, he, the, the guy's son is there.

They're making the Sun watch, which is terrible. Mm-hmm. And Nick Cage, I thought he was the sheriff or something for some reason. And then when I realized he was, and I thought he was there to save the guy who was hanging because he shoots the people who are about to hang this man. And then this man's either friends or family come and cut him down.

And I thought Nick Cage was prompting that, but he wasn't. He ends up actually also shooting this man. He shoots everyone but the child. 

Yeah. 'cause they, they were tr we, they don't really specify what he is. You are to assume he's just a higher gun by the city. To make, to ensure that, you know, something doesn't happen.

So he, he could be a bounty hunter, he could be like a, I guess guns slinger. They don't really, there's no identifier to really indicate what his role is. He could just be higher protection. 

Yeah. 

But when his employer dies, you know, and then he gets his money back. So that's the premise. Like, we don't know exactly what he is.

But we do know what type of person he is, 

and he's a no-nonsense old western gun slinging guy where his name brings fear to the hearts of other men. 

Yeah, it it, I just. I, I like this film has a way to hype a person up and they've done, they spare no expense to hype Nick Cage's character up as like it's true being, you know, the most feared gun slinger who's put more bodies away than than anyone.

And the person they go to like give you this narrative is a outta shape Marshall, who, he's seen more things than, 

oh, is it him? Who's narrating? 

He's the one who tells the ne to kind of, oh, he's 

telling everyone. Oh, okay. Like 

he, he's, he know, they made apparent that there's some type of history between the two.

Oh, 'cause they've known each other. You're right. That is, 

and 

that is 

something we do. And this guy knows so much about Nick Cage. Like he just, he's just telling you, you know, verses and, he's just giving you all this history about Nick Cage without him actually having to speak. So I thought it was interesting.

It's definitely, yeah, he definitely is aware of, um. Of Nick Cage. And after the whole scene where he, he cuts, he kills all the people except for the son. Doesn't he say something about a debt? He says something about a debt to the little kid. And then he rides off and then it cuts to, and time has passed and he is now a husband and a father.



Uh, to a girl who's like at least 10 years old, something like that. And, he's talking to his wife and he agrees to walk their daughter to school, or I guess he's forced to walk their daughter to school. Yeah. But then the school is closed, so he takes her to his store. It seems like he owns a general store.

And he's, he seems very I would say particular as does his daughter. There's a scene where she ends up, someone tries to steal jelly beans, but then they put it back 'cause she's there and she feels like the jelly beans are dirty. So she cleans them, but then she organizes them based on color. So I feel like part of it is, 'cause one of the things that they discuss in the movie or show is that like.

He had difficulty being a regular person and so does she, she has difficulty crying and, and doing all these things, and I think they're trying to say it's because she's autistic or something of that accord because she is separating and him. Or they're both, that they're on, that they're neurodivergent in some way because she separates the, you know, the stuff and they also don't understand emotions.

But I also think they're trying to say that they're psychopaths. It, I don't know. It was weird. But 

there are a lot of different labels that's used to define both the father and the daughter. 

Yeah. 

Just showing emotion and 

they're not very emotional of emotional individuals. 

Yeah. They're not. They're not very emotional individuals, but they also can't be happy.

Like they're so used to the sy their systems and how things are that any DI don't think any divergent from that would piss him off. Maybe in the cage. 'cause he's like, tells his daughter what you just described, the walk to the school, but like told her to walk by herself. Mind you, there's no roads. So if she's just walking, walking into the field, 

yeah.

And I, 

by the 

way, 

hope and pray she gets there on time. 

And, uh, by the way, also, this is at a time when smallpox is also a running rampant. 'cause she says, what about like the PX? Or things like that? And he's like, you'll be fine. And I'm just like, aren't you a little worried about your child? You know, if all these things' is dangers.

He 

didn't seem, he didn't seem that, he seemed like if it 

was like at least a mile and a half walk, 

he didn't seem that. Like worried as though like, oh, if something did happen to her, he can just make another one. 

Yeah. I mean, 

that's the direction or his mindset. I was like, eh, I can make another one.

And it, that was just the tone for him. 

I feel like a lot of it too was him. Him being like, oh, I just had this kid because my wife, who I truly loved, who got pregnant, we were forced to have this kid, but I didn't really want her. That's the vibe he gives off. But anyway, so he's, this happens, it cuts to them here while they're at the store.

His wife, uh, some I would say outlaws, they escape from jail. Mm-hmm. Run up on her. And ultimately they kill her. And one of the people in this outlaw group turns out to be an adult of the boy. It's the, it's not, it's the young boy who he saw him kill his father in the beginning of the film. But now grown up into a man, 

but 

who know, who's aware of who he is and kind of sort of wants revenge, not, but doesn't wanna, 

but also going back to the hyping that once she, I know, kind of knows that she's not gonna make it.

She kind of tells. The individuals that they fucked up, if they know who her husband is, 'cause she knows and he's gonna bring death to them. I mean, they still kill her, but she's like, she's hyping him up, like telling him the tale of he's a dangerous person. 

Yeah, they're hyping, just hyping 'em up. And actually other people know.

One of the guys there is like, no, it's this guy. You didn't say we, we were gonna do this to this guy. So they're very aware of his reputation. Mm-hmm. Which is interesting to me that they're aware of it. And then they still do it. Obviously they're still following, they apparently have all escaped together and they're following the lead of this person who's now a grown man because he.

I guess has money he hid from a bank robbery down in Santa Anna or whatever, um, because they're in California and they wanna get there to get the money so that they can go. 'cause they've escaped from jail and they're being hunted by the Marshall who's talking, who ends up talking about Nick Cage's character and his history, who clearly knew him at one point in his past.

So that happens, right? She's killed, they're still at the store. And then the Marshall and his people come along 'cause they're tracking them, find his dead wife, and then decide just to get homie in the home. They're like drinking, eating his food. And when him and his daughter come home. They're like, oh, shoot, we didn't realize anyone survived, which was crazy to me.

And they, he ends up burying his wife and then decides to go on his own version of revenge to hunt down these people as, and the marshal is still hunting them down.

Yeah. But see, that, that part would've pissed me off. Like it's like. There was a murder in your house. The cops come up instead of doing the investigation, decide, you know what?

We're gonna make ourselves some food. We're hungry and just contaminate the whole scene. 

Yeah, of course they don't. They're not, it's not of this day and age. So I guess like not contaminating a scene is not their biggest worry, but I was surprised that they just made themselves at home. They only found one body and just assumed with no investigation that everyone else was gone.

He, the marshal had determined it was a case close. 

It was a case close. So he 

was like, I'm done. 

Mm-hmm. So then that begins a tale of Nick Cage going on his, his path of revenge with his daughter. What, did you have any favorite scenes? 

Yes. My favorite scene for, so it would be leading up to after the whole, like him bearing 



His wife, and after he's like that they're trying to talk him down from not going and pursuing them. The people that took his wife like, you know, we don't need any more bloodshed. Uh, first off, this wouldn't have happened. 'cause I think the Marshall even said they passed by them, or in encounter there was some interaction where their paths have crossed.

Mm-hmm. 

And. The Marshall who fucking sucks at his job, 

he really does suck at his job. 

Didn't see the signs. So there's this whole, the scene I like after, like after this, in the interaction, he bears his wife, he tells his daughter. You know, he goes and puts on the old clothes. The old clothes are like his cowboy gunslinger outfit where he has, the, um, the handkerchief tied around his neck, which almost look, it's pretty too long.

So it's like covering almost half the shirt. Mm-hmm. And he has, mm-hmm. So he tells his daughter that you're going to, I'm gonna go take care of them. She wants to join, he's like, all right, we will go together. And he just burns their entire house down, like just straight up, just burns it down. 

I never forgot about that.

And as they're just leaving, she's telling him about what about my books? What about school? He goes, oh yeah, we'll just get all that stuff. We'll buy you new stuff. We'll live somewhere else. And mind you, this is an area where like this is a time where you could just straight up go to a location.

Build a house and be good. Like, oh yeah, we're gonna live right here. You didn't have to buy the land or anything. You just set up shop. 

Yeah. 

So, and I guess his daughter was like, well, I guess I got no school. 

I guess I don't gotta go to school no more. It, 

that was, that was my favorite for me. 

That was one of your favorite scenes?

One of my favorite. Just for the fact that he is, he, no regard. He was just like, we ain't taking the shit with us. Burn it down. And it was less for them to carry. I was like. I, I guess that's an efficient way to move. 

It, I would have to say one of my favorite scenes, honestly, is just how some of the quotes that this movie had, they were just so, they were just so dumb. I think it's the only way that I can, I can I can um, say it is, for example he's at one point where they're going on the journey to fight. They're tracking these men, they need to firewood, and so they take the grave marker, the cross, that's a grave marker off of someone's grave.

And the girl is like, that belongs to a dead person. We, we shouldn't take that. And he's he said, what does he say? He says, nothing belongs to the dead because the dead don't need anything. And I'm like, okay. It's kind of similar to people saying I never, he it's like a oxymoron almost, in a way is what's getting me that he does that a lot in the film where it's supposed to be like, I think words of wisdom, but it's not, it comes across as like the dead don't, don't need, they don't own nothing 'cause they don't need nothing.

And you're like, okay, no, realistically they don't need anything. But it's more about respect. It's not. It's not that they actually own the item. That's what she's saying. Which is why I was like, maybe they're both on the spectrum because he just is too literal. He is very literal person. 

But what you said reminded me of, uh, this video, this TikTok video was like love your job.

Don't love your job, job your love. And it's like, what? Does that even make any sense? 

Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't make any sense. Or at one point he's like. Gunshots may have a way of speeding people up, but they also have a way of slowing people down. And I'm like, what? Yeah, of course they're gunshots. If you get shot, you get slowed down 'cause you die probably.

But if you don't get hit, you're gonna be running pretty 

fast. 

Yeah. Like it's just like the, those kinds of the U euphemisms or whatever they sang just made me laugh because they're set in a cage's, very serious tone. Then it would cut to like his daughter and she's just like, you know, 

thinking on it, 

mulling on it, mulling it over 'cause her dad is one of wisdom.

So I would say that's probably one, but specifically two when he's talking about fear and love and how he didn't understand fear and how he became what he was. He's like, what is it he tells her that he didn't love? Anyone, and he hasn't loved anyone except for her mom. And I was like, you just said this to your daughter.

I don't love anybody but your mom. You're okay. I guess 

I hate everyone 

and I was 

just, you're, you're an exception. 

He's just not, he's, he doesn't even say that to her. He's just like, everyone else can die. I guess. You can stay. It's just like the way, the funniest way of saying it. 

The father of the year, 

he is a father of the year.

Did you have any other favorite scenes? 

Yeah, so my, this will be leading up to like. In that same vein, my favorite scene is where she, uh, the daughter indicated that she can't cry. 

Yeah. 

Or she doesn't know how to cry. 

Just like him. She doesn't cry at her mom dying 

like him. Like he, it's more so like she doesn't feel an attachment, like an emotional attachment that would cause her to grieve in that.

Incense. So the following day Nick Cage's character tells her like, okay, well you can practice crying. Yeah. And so he tells her to cry like a baby and tells her that so they can like, lure in someone who, that they could use a horse for. 

Yeah. 

And so. His daughter's not even 

two. The people they've already met, by the way.

Yeah. Two people. They already met. Some Marshalls men who's in a shootout with the guys they're chasing. That Nick Cage is also chasing. 

But he doesn't know that. So they get someone and she's not putting any full effort. She was like, monotone, wha wha 

no. He says, say my baby. Wha wham my baby. And that's what she does.

She literally just goes, wha wham my baby. And the person stops and is like, what about your baby? What? 

Yeah. She repeats it and then 

wha wow. 

They, they get him. But I just. I like that scene because it's not like a monkey see, monkey do. It's more like, okay, these are the instructions where you can put a hundred percent of your effort into completeing the task at hand.

She gave no fucks. 

Well, again, this is where I say they both very literal. He told her to do something. She's like, I did it. Wha wha there's where's my baby? Uh, and it's funny because you're like, that I don't think would. Stop anyone in their tracks. Maybe. I don't even think in the west, I think it'd be more that she was alone.

She was a child. 

Yeah. 

You'd be like, where are your, where's the parents? Interesting. 

It wasn't a good it, it would do the opposite and make sure like she's suspicious. Like if I heard that in the, in. In the woods, like, mm. I'm gonna steer clear from that area. 

Yeah. Um, I would say one of my other favorite scenes is, I love that scene too.

It's just like the general incompetence of the Marshall. He is chasing these guys. He's supposed to be a big town, I would say a big time like police, sheriff, whatever you wanna call it, because he's chasing this guy across after he escapes from, from jail and. Typically it's some of the higher end people who do that, and he is experienced with, with Nick Cage's character.

Mm-hmm. They've run in some of the same crowds. But this guy, he goes following through an area, which very clearly would give him a disadvantage should the other people be waiting for him to be lured into a trap. And he's not at all suspicious and he walks his mind right into a trap and then they get shot at.

Some of them get shot and then they're stuck there until Nick Cage comes along and then ties them up and one guy has a broken leg, one guy's shot, and he helps remove the bullet from one of them, but also ends up like taking their horse so that they could Yeah. Horse, they could get after the men faster.

And the marshal's just like, you're gonna get in so much trouble. And 

Well, he, he asked for information. That's the thing is he goes, you did this. Tell me, you know, if you know information about them. 'cause he was, again, he was withholding everything. Yeah. And it wasn't until the last minute he tells him again, not the most brightest tool in the 

room.

No, no. And he's, mind you, he's already been at his house, ate his food, drank his stuff, found his dead wife didn't really help bury her. And then left like, what a weird, really took advantage. And then has the audacity to be like. Demanding all these things after they come across them, they definitely, even though they tie them up and he says, leaves them for dead, Nicholas Cajun's daughter definitely saved their life because one of the guys' leg is obviously is kaput and the other guy is getting, I guess what they were alluding to was like poisoning through the bullet.

Lead poisoning. 

Yeah. 

Uh, and so he needed to have it removed so he wouldn't, he wouldn't continue to like suffer, uh, and he could heal. So they like, he, he, they technically end up saving them and it prompts the other, the outlaws to leave because there's nothing else they can do and they wanna escape to where they're heading to Santa Anna.

But, um, I was gonna say what that was part of the reason that, that's one of my favorite scenes is when Nick Cage is, is taking his horse. He's like, I'm gonna leave it tied up at the front of Santa Ana. I ain't no horse thief, but he is a murderer, apparently. 

The Horse Thief Dilemma

He's like really, really adamant that he will not steal his horse.

I mean, but he's okay with having his daughter kill him. I was like, what? 

But they did, and this is after the fact that they stole one of his companions horses That was with the Marshall? 

Mm-hmm. 

So technically an oxymoron because they. Well, 

but he says he leaves and he is like, I ain't no horse thief. And they do end up leaving it at the end where they said they would, where he said they would.

Mm-hmm. But I just thought it was such a just weird distinction to make, like, you're already on this path to kill this man. It's a nick cage, but you just wanna make sure they know you're not a horse thief. Like, well, 

it's, it's like. The Joker is like, well, I'm, I'm a criminal, but I'm not doing it for the money type of I guess it's said, 

well, that's, he's insane.

He's like, I'm doing it 'cause I'm insane. 

He's, I, I, I'm doing it for the love of the game. It's, I guess it's trying to separate himself. Like he, he knows he's a murderer, but he's like, I don't, I'm not taking your horse just to take it. 

Yeah. I guess he is like, I'll kill men, but I won't kill no animals. And you're like.

Okay. Um, so yeah. I, I like that. 

Favorite Scenes and Emergency Surgery

Did you have any other favorite scenes or no? 

Mm, I, I have to think, I think the favorite scene would be like when he was doing emergency emergency infield emergency, um, for taking out the bullet because while they're having a shootout. Father the year Nick Cage. Sorry.

It's a good learning experience. 

Yeah. 

To show his daughter how to take a bullet out. And while they're doing this, like they, you know, put whiskey on it, he takes the bullet out and then heats the metal to sear the, the wound cauterized. Cauterize it. 

Yeah. 

You know. The daughter's like, smells like wild rabbits.

Mom used to make, he goes, that's the 

smells good. Yeah, 

smells good. And he goes like, that's the whiskey. 

Yeah. 

He's having like this second conversation with his daughter while the shootout is still happening or like, they're in the area and so, and the guy's like the marshal's like just freaking out 'cause he doesn't know what the hell's going on.

And he's probably surprised that. Nate Cage just there with his daughter doing medic emergency field surgery. 

Yeah, I think too. Well, I don't know if you have any other favorites. 

Least Favorite Scenes and Plot Holes

I, I would say they're more like least favorites. I think it's purposeful that the Marshall is kind of dumb and so are the outlaws, to be kind of honest, because apparently the only smart one is the kid who's now an adult.

The other ones seem to just be following his lead, but are just kind of like. You know, the dopey henchmen who just mm-hmm. Don't really know what to do. Uh, so they follow his lead and they go off to Santa Ana, and of course, Nick Cage follows them. But I'm gonna go into my least favorite, unless you have some, yep.

Okay. One of my least favorite scenes is they're, again, they're deciphering how to get into this town. He was like, well, they'll notice me right away. And then they agreed that the outlaws won't notice her. And that's what they did with the Marshal being like, they won't recognize, and I'm like, but these people have seen them both.

And granted, maybe N Cage doesn't realize the Marshall seen 'em, but he now knows that the person purposefully. The Marshall tells him that the boy who's now a man had a grudge against him. Mm-hmm. So he, one would, one would think or assume they probably know you guys are coming or they saw you at one point, but instead he's like, genius idea.

You go in there. You go to the store, pretend like you're gonna buy something, they'll be so caught off guard. I'll come, I'll come in and and follow up. And immediately they notice her and immediately they grab her. It was not at all a good, good plan. It was immediately bad. And then the guy is giving some giant speech about how they're basically siblings.

'cause Nick Cage killed his papapa. And I was like, what the hell? 

And left me for dead. 

Yeah. It was, it was interesting. I was just like, wow. The, the plot here did not make, did not make 

sense. And I turned into a life of crime. 

I would've expected Nick Cage's character to just roll through shooting and then have his daughter from the back try being backup like.

I would've expected that at some point. But nah, he don't do that. He just ends up running in to try to save his daughter and then getting into a shootout with the guys. 

I think my least favorite scenes with the, the child who's now a man revenge, they put up signs. 

Oh yeah, 

they did. I was like to as if, to know like Nick Cage is not gonna know.

Where you're at, they decide to pull up signs to like direct him to the saloon. 

Yeah, 

which I never saw the point of that. 'cause like he's gonna know you're in the part of town.

The town is not that big. Mind you, 'cause this is an old whatever. It's old times. They, all these places tend to have like a general store, of course a bar, and then a place to sleep because that's usually what the three things you need alcohol.

Sleep and food, right? 

Mm-hmm. 

So that's typically what it's, so that's what his basically has. And so like, where else would they be? They're either at the end or they're at the saloon. Like, 

well, just like the way he contemplated this as if it's like this, like he's, I'm playing chess. Mm-hmm.

Everyone's playing checkers and it's, it's like this big, big brain idea. And when we do get to see the outside, you're like. That was it? That's all you got? 

Yeah. 

Anticlimactic Showdown

I would say my other one is the, the, the culmination. We get to the tippy topic point of the whole drama. It's the young boy man who's now a man versus Tom.

You're gonna say Tom Cruise. 

I'm gonna say Tom Cruise versus Nick Cage. And he has his Nick Cage's daughter and Huh. Nick Cage is like. Uh, basically that in his way says he loves his daughter, I assume, whatever. And they get into a shootout and it's very anticlimactic. He shoots the guy's henchman and then a shoot, and then he shoots Nick Cage and Nick Cage.

The girl's like, no daddy. And while after he's been shot, the guy is so happy that he. Ki killed him, that he is not paying attention to the little girl, and she very quickly gets the gun and then shoots him in the head. And I was like that. That was so anti click. 

That was so quick. 

It was so quick. Yeah.

And um. And then the Marshall rolls into town and is just like, oh, I could do one of two things. I could tell every, I could charge you and arrest you for what you did. Or I could just leave it as is. As long as you don't tell them about the money. Uh, that 'cause he took the guy safe and I was like, of course.

Yeah. Yeah. Of course. He cares more about that than anything else. That's what they really wanted was the money. Uh, 

well they robbed a bank, so 

that has to be Yeah. The outlaws robbed a bank, so that's what he wanted. Yeah, it was just very anticlimactic. I think if you're building up for like this big reveal, I also for how feared Nicholas Cage's character's supposed to be.

I wanted more gunfights, like I wanted to see him more, more 

exactly 

in it, you know, to win it. I wanted to see a face off, but with, in the wild, wild west 

because a couple of the deaths of the henchman were like off, off screen. Yeah. And not on, so like. Who's to say like, what the struggle is. It wasn't like a typical shootout.

And also my other least ever seen was that the guy got money. Like he, he had a way to convert what he had into regular dollars. Why didn't he just leave? 

Yeah. 

That, that was the whole point. Like you. This is sometimes where you get to a point where the villain's just doing too much and you're like, you know what?

They should just be satisfied with what they have. He had money or enough to split with this crew, but yet decided, you know what? I need to get my, get back. The money's not gonna be as satisfied if I don't know, um, if I know Nick, Kate is still coming after me. 

Yeah. Well, and then too, they had money, but it was Mexican money.

And they were all upset about it, that he had Mexican money. He's like, this money will go a long ways in Mexico which is where we have to lay low. Anyway, I don't know why they didn't just leave, like clearly you want his revenge, 

but Well, they, they, they transferred it because he had satchels of actual American money, which is why at the end of this, the DA Nick Cage's daughter ends up.

Asking if she didn't get the money that her brother left, 

or the satchel? 

The 

satchel. 

His writing satchel writing atch, because he had put money in the writing satchel, and she gets it, and the, the marshal's unaware of it. So she gets to keep, 

just get to keep it, yeah. Because he had cleaned the money or he had transferred it to like, regular currency of just being there.

And so I'm thinking if you had all that time. Why couldn't you just take the money, transfer it to like, you know, you could use it other place and just leave. Like wasn't the point. But he's like so bol and 

I guess driven by revenge. I, yeah, that's what that, that is. 

And everyone there, he broke the pro, his henchman, he broke the promise to his henchman.

'cause they were like, we're gonna be off in the sunset. They all died and they were never paid. They broke outta prison. Followed his scheme with the promise of money. He tells him that I can give you the Mexican money now, but then, you know, entices them with more money. 

Yeah. 

And they're like, yeah, I wanna be.

Yeah. And 

then they die in the end. 

They die in the end. I mean, the stakes were high. And the reward was very low, so I don't get that either. But you know, maybe they just, they, they, for them it was, the reward was high, I guess. I would say to the end, when the marshals just like, now get back and run that story your daddy had, I was like, oh, he's just gonna.

Final Thoughts and Ratings

Oh, okay. Just gonna let her leave. She's a 10-year-old girl. They're just like, bye, good luck. And you're just like, oh, okay, 

but where's she gonna live? 

Yeah. Well, he's sending her back. So I guess at the store, but I mean, I, obviously, I wasn't alive then, so I guess I can't be like, oh, where would they have her stay?

But I feel like orphanages were a thing. No, maybe not foster houses or homes or things like that, but I feel like kids who didn't have parents were taken into certain. Areas. So I'm surprised he just let her leave. But you know what, it, it, whatever. I guess I can't question. I wasn't alive then. 

The, the sequel of this film was gonna be called The New Way.

The New Way, the New Way. It's her alone as a grown up. 

No, it's gonna be her time working the store. And then growing up, 

you know what this movie gave me, even though it, I don't think the plot was similar. It gave me the vibes of true grit with Jeff Bridges and Haley Stanfield. Except, and I'm sorry to say this, Jeff Bridges and Haley Stanfield are both better actors than the two people in this movie.

Granted the little girl, she was fine. She was good. 

Mm-hmm. 

Uh, I was like, oh, she's not bad. But it was just like the script was a little stilted. But overall, you know, I actually ended up thinking it was funny and I enjoyed it. I also think they probably didn't do as much action. 'cause Nick Cage is older.

Mm-hmm. So he like fights at one point, but it's, it's very clear. Like he's like, what is he almost 60? He's an older man. This was Mo this was only a couple years ago. He probably doesn't have the same abilities as he used to. 

If you got Tom Cruise running 

Yeah. But Tom Cruise jumping off the top.

Still fit. Yeah. 

And then punching people who obviously have a build that could be stronger than him. Nick Cage got in the bag. 

I would say Nick, Tom Cruise isn't an accurate representation 'cause I think he's younger than Nick Cage, but also Tom Cruise has always been physically active and Nick Cage has kind of fluctuated.

But I would say a better comparison is probably Denzel Washington. Or Liam Neeson being taken, or the equalizer, the equal, where you're like, okay, these men are in their late sixties. How are they kicking everyone's butt right now? 

Yeah. And 

that's how I feel about Nick Cage sometimes 

and, and taking a hit, which could have obviously hinder them.

And 

you listen no matter what kind of skills you have when you hit your older age, your bones are more fragile. Everything's fragile, 

unless you're taking multi, unless you're 

taking vitamins, even if you're taking multivitamins. Everything about you ages. It's why people who once could run like really fast or compete in Olympics, their time slow with age.

Like you just naturally age and things become worse for your body. So I'm not saying you couldn't take a hit, I'm just saying I feel like it'll take you a little bit more time to get back up than it would when you were 20. You know, like when I fallen as a kid and you remember when you fall like off the bike and you're like, yeah.

And as an adult, you fall now and you're like, oh God, that hurt a lot more than I thought it did. And like your bones crack and creak, 

or you sneeze and you just pull your back out. 

Oh, yeah. Or me bending over to pick my headphones and you herniate your disc in your back like. The dumbest stuff you could think of is what actually caused me the most harm as an adult.

But I did crazier things as a kid and was totally fine. My, I was basically like a freaking bouncy ball. My bones were rubber. 

Exactly. 

So I just feel like maybe that's why they didn't do a lot of action, but I would've loved to seen it. I would've loved to seen him, him shoot more guns, but maybe also, maybe also there wasn't, uh, enough money.

For the film because a lot of the actors in this film were not well known. I think only Nick Cage was the only one who we've seen really in other things like other films. 

Yeah. A lot of the budget probably went to him. 

Yeah. So I feel like maybe there just wasn't, 'cause a lot of the sets look the same too for the small towns, which of course they're all going to, but they all pretty much look the same.

Like you couldn't really differentiate except in one area they had more Mexican people, like more of my brethren in the background, more brown people. And that was to differentiate that they were closer to where they were to Mexico. Mm-hmm. But everything else looked pretty much the same. So I feel like maybe the.

The budget was low, so they couldn't do as much action too. But I would've liked to see it. 

What would you have rate this from? Um, 

I'd give it a, I'd give it a, I'm gonna say a 2.1 out of a out of five. 

I will give it two stars. 

Yeah. Like it wasn't bad. It wasn't like the wickerman and the plot, it made sense.

It was also just funny. I thought I found it humorous, so I enjoyed it in that way, so I'd give it that. 

Okay. 

Reading Reviews from Letterboxd

And we're gonna pivot onto our next point where we're gonna read two. Uh, reviews from letterbox. We're gonna say the user's name, say what the rating is, and then the review that they, um, they gave this film.

So I'm gonna go first. Mine is gonna be from username Olivia. The B she gave it a one and a half stars Nicholas Cage Gunslinger movie should have, should not be this bad. 

That's it. 

Yeah, that's, that's, that's the 

review. 

Damn. That's the review. It should not be this bad. 

Okay. 

Um, I think she's probably talking about like there then the dialogue.

Yeah. Like there was less gun shooting and more dialogue. 

There was a lot of dialogue but it just wasn't enough. Like, if you're gonna say silly things, kind of John Wick style, like stealing his dog, then you, maybe the action should be like John Wick style. Yeah. 'cause then you're, you're super entertained.

You're like, all right. Yeah. Even if the movie, there's a great example, ninja Assassin. I watched it. I, granted, I had had like seven monsters before that movie, but I watched it and even though my heart was racing from all the caffeine. It was such a bad movie plot-wise, but so cool action-wise that I was like, wow, I'm entertained.

So, you know, something 

like that. Well it was like the one film that actually meant actually stood up to its title. It was Ninja's as like, 

yeah, that's 

what it 

was. That's what it was. And you're like, you know what? I get you. They got real people doing real, real fighting stuff. So yeah, something like that.

But, um, mine is gonna be from jerks burps. They gave it two stars and they quoted the movie where. Someone said, if Colton Briggs decides he's coming, you might as well set an extra plate at the table because Colton Briggs is coming. Another great line from the film, forgot about that. He's coming. It means he's coming like.

What that's, uh, that's an oxy. What? It's idio, what do you call it? Idiosyncratic or whatever. Just the way they wrote. This is just so funny to me. Or when people like dodgeball when he is like, no one ever makes me bleed my own blood. Like that kind of stuff is just funny. Anyway, the rest of the view is the promises of Nick Cage as a John Wick 2014 style cowboy, fall flat.

In the old way where a poorly structured narrative gives way to a very mediocre venture. And I think that that's a good point. It you wanted more flair. You wanted a face off level of a Western. You wanted a John Wick Western and we didn't get it. 

Mine's gonna be from username n dc. 32 0 0 2. They gave it two and a half star.

Their review's gonna be true. Grit two. 

Hey, 

the Mandy way. I get this feeling. Nick Cage agreed to this role just to mark traditional Western office Bingo card. But Ryan, Kira Armstrong slayed. 

That's the little girl. Yeah, she did good. 

Mm-hmm. 

She did well. Like she held her own. She was compelling. She cried on cue and she was in the remake of Fire Starter and that one was not good.

Yeah. 

But she did, she's improved. So I would say she has a good long career ahead of her. Mine is gonna be from Tom exclamation point. They gave it two stars and they said, this is not a real movie. This is a 90 minute Super Bowl commercial with no punchline. And that's what I felt like when I was watching it.

Yeah. And that's pretty much it. 

Yeah. I was waiting for the shoot, I was waiting for the, you know, the punchline and it, you know, you're kind of leaning forward 'cause you're waiting for someone to get to the part of the story where you're like, yeah. This is the good part. This is the joke. And then you never get there and you're just like, what 

The movie.

I listened to you for an hour and that was it. That's all you had to tell me. Yeah, it's one of those. So I agree. And on that note, 

Closing Remarks and Community Engagement

at that note, that draws us lists, uh. Episode two of close. Do you have any last words? 

And as always, I lost my hand. I lost my wife. Johnny has his hand. Johnny has his wife. Is it Johnny or Tommy?

It's, you said Tommy time. 

Uh, you know what? Let's pretend. Bye. 

Bye. 

Bye.

 📍 Okay, wow, that was, like, so much fun! A total vibe.

If you want to see any of the games we chatted about ike, the full visual experience you can find all that on our YouTube. But honestly, the easiest way to find, like, everything we do all of our links, this podcast, and a super simple way to just send us a messages at our hub:

ArcadeVeritas.com

It's, like, our little home base for everything. So handy.

Do us a favor? Just tap subscribe so you don't miss our next chat. And if you're feeling extra amazing, leaving a little review is, like, the sweetest thing ever. It just makes our whole community better.

Thanks for hanging out with us! Remember: just take things one day at a time and find your joy. Okay, bye!