Friday, January 5, 2024

BUTCHER'S CROSSING (2022) (Sony Pictures Blu-ray Review)

BUTCHER'S CROSSING (2022)

Label: Sony Pictures
Region Code:
Rating: R
Duration: 107 Minutes 
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.00:1)
Director: Gabe Polsk
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Fred Hechinger, Xander Berkeley, Rachel Keller, with Jeremy Bobb, Paul Raci

Directed by Gabe Polsky and based on the 1960 novel of the same name by John Edward Williams, Butcher's Crossing (2023) is set in 1874, it tells the tale of Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger, Fear Street) a young man who drops out of Harvard in search of real life experiences, which leads him to a rural frontier town in Kansas. Will has a romanticized idea about buffalo hunting and wants to join a buffalo hunt and see the frontier. 
 
There he seeks out a former acquaintance of his father, McDonald (Paul Raci, TV's Perry Mason), who runs a fur trading outpost, but the man seeing how green and inexperienced the young man is turns him down. 
He then encounters seasoned buffalo hunter Miller (Nicolas Cage, Renfield) who tells him if he can front him $200 to put together the expedition he can join his hunt, a journey that will take them to a secluded valley mountainous Colorado pass where Miller promises they'll find untold numbers of buffalo for the taking. Will agrees and joins miller, alongside a vulgar skinner, Fred Schneider (Jeremy Bobb, Under the Silver Lake), and a one-armed bible-thumping alcoholic cook, Charlie Hoge (Xander Berkeley, Candyman), on the arduous arduous journey through mountainous, hostile terrain. The trip there is filled with sweat and toil, water becomes scarce and tempers flare, but once they arrive the find that the buffalo are in even greater numbers than they could have imagined. The hunt is a huge success, they've slaughtering buffalo and end up with a legendary haul of pelts, but the harsh elements, hard work and temperaments of the men slowly begin to chip away at not only the men's resolve, but their sanity. As tempers flare and the men scrape each others nerves things are made worse when Miller refuses to leave end the hunt, and they end up having to winter in the rugged mountain terrain. 

This frontier western is rugged and gritty, the entire cast is excellent as they're sanity begins to collapse around them, Will's story of a green-eared Ivy league student looking for real life experience is engaging, and Cage, Bobb and Berkeley are all in fine form. Cage, who has had a pretty stellar resurgence these past few years in my opinion, is reigned in here, while there's ample opportunity for him to get patently intense with the character's more obsessive, Ahab-esque behaviors, it's all in the service of the characters and is never too unhinged for the it's own good. The antagonistic relationship between the camp cook and the crude skinner is another highlight, one which results in treachery and murder. Also, be on the lookout for Rachel Keller ( TV's Legion) as a kind-hearted whore at the fur-trading post, onscreen time is brief but welcomed, and she returns later inthe film in not only the vulgar conversation of Schneider but the nightmares of Will.

Shot on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana the rugged terrain and buffalo herds are practically the top-billed stars of the film, the gorgeous open terrain and snow-covered mountains are quite dazzling, giving the film a grizzled, authentic frontier feel that pulls you right into the story and sets the tome and period quite nicely. This is a pretty terrific psychological western with a fantastic cast, definitely recommended. 

Audio/Video: Butcher's Crossing (2023) arrives on Blu-ray in 1080p HD widescreen (2.00:1), offering a sharply detailed and crisp looking amateur. The gorgeous location scenery is a highlight with rugged mountainous terrain that looks quite wonderful. Clothing textures and detail in facial features are pleasing throughout. 

Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles. Zero complaints, a solid track, dialogue and atmospheric Foley work (cracked of camp fires, call of the buffalo) well-defined, and the tense score from Leo Birenberg (Edge of Tomorrow).

Sadly no extras, this is a barebones release. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork, and the first-pressing at least includes a slipcover with the same artwork. 

Special Features: 
- None 

Posted by at