The Proposition

2005 cowboy movie

Rating: 12/20

Plot: A portly English guy captures half of the Burns brothers, a gang that has been terrorizing a community somewhere in Australia. That English gentleman, Captain Stanley, is going to civilize this land if it kills him! Aborigines, outlaws, and lawmen shoot at each other in hell. Nick Cave moans and fondles himself as characters show off his big big words. Stanley gives the best looking of the brothers the proposition the film is named after--he has until Christmas to capture his other two brothers or his younger brother will be hanged by the neck until dead in a festive celebration that all good Christians would surely enjoy. Charlie goes off on his horse to find the brother.

This isn't nearly as good as the films it imitates although it's entertaining, savagely violent, and bleak enough to be a serviceable western. The characters lacked character, and the plot wandered a little too pointlessly. I did appreciate the stark landscape and sets filmed beautifully and the violent effects were very well done, especially the gunfight at the very beginning and the scene with a spear going through a guy seconds before another guy gets half his head blown off. Nick Cave's screenplay is heavy stuff, but his only memorable line is probably the very last one of the movie. The score (Cave along with one of the Dirty Three) is silly. If there was one thing this movie needed a little more of, it's people urinating.

I urinated twice while watching The Proposition: