IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE is the latest film from director Ti West. Taking a step away from the horror genre where he made his mark with film such as HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, THE INNKEEPERS and THE SACRAMENT, West has dived headlong into the great American Western. His new film is riveting, bloody as all hell and crazy fun.
The film follows Paul (Ethan Hawke), a former soldier trying to make his way to Mexico with his horse and his dog, Abby. When he arrives in Denton, a dusty boarder town that formerly played home to a silver mine, he immediately gets more than he bargained for. He isn't in town more than ten minutes when he manages to piss off Gilly (James Ransone) the biggest dickweed west of the Texas. What could easily have become the biggest brawl the town has ever seen is cut short when Paul lays Gilly out with one punch and walks away, saving himself from a fight, but earning a hell of a lot of wrath as the result of Gilly's broken nose and damaged ego. Now, leaving town isn't going to be as easy as he had wanted it to be, as Gilly and his gang of miscreants are determined not to let him get away with his slight.
On paper, this is a pretty ordinary Western plot, complete with tropes of the strong, silent wanderer, the petty, spoiled town bully and the gang of supporting characters who are little more than hand cannon fodder. But the fun in this film is how West plays with those tropes and pits them against one another. For every standard character stereotype, West builds them a background and allows them to be more than their two dimensional expectation. We get to see exactly why Gilly is the petty bully he is (note: an explanation isn't enough to make us feel for him - the dude is a scumbag of the highest order). We get to see exactly what is behind Paul’s sullen silence. These characters have stories of their own and reasons for being the way they are, which not only makes them more likable, it greatly enhances the plot as it starts to unfold.
As badass as these characters try to be, it becomes immediately clear that everyone in this story is in way over their heads. Paul certainly didn't mean to walk into this mess, and Gilly's gang never in a million years dreamed that their adversary would be so skilled. Much of the drama comes from the situation spiraling completely out of control and becoming a veritable time bomb.
The incredible cast and solid performances really help to sell it. Hawke and Ransone are both incredible, and John Travolta turns in the best performance that we have seen from him in years as Gilly's father and the town marshal. Taissa Farmiga and Karen Gillan costar as a pair of sisters who run the town hotel and have never quite been able to escape Denton’s clutches. Each deals with her lot in life in a different way, Ellen (Gillan) getting tight with Gilly and hoping that his influence will buy her a better life in town, and Mary Anne (Farmiga) hoping to escape as far away as possible. Added to this are a supporting cast of the likes of Larry Fessenden, Burn Gorman, Toby Huss and Tommy Nohilly, who do an incredible job in rounding out the scenery.
IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE is an incredibly entertaining film, and an interesting next step for Ti West as a story teller. But don't worry fans, just because West stepped away from horror for this one doesn't mean he's ready to play nice either. The film is crazy bloody, hyper violent and when the final showdown comes into play, he is more than willing to let the bullets fly.
