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[Rant] Inconsistencies and stupidities made me reconsider this movie


OK. Let me make a little confession. First time I watched it, I liked the movie. So maybe I wasn't too bright. But after reading around a bit, I agree with most of the posters, the plot holes, inconsistencies, plain stupidities made me reconsider my feelings toward this movie. This is a good story done in a very bad manner. Great concept, lousy execution. I don't just want emotions and character development (which is done incorrectly either), I want a REAL PLOT that is believable.

Here are the list of things that made me reconsider:

1) THE CAPTORS DOESN'T SEEM TO WANT TO PACIFY WADE AT ALL

They handcuffs this man hands at the front of his body, not the back. This is plain stupid. We have a man who is an infamous bandit. He robbed 21 coaches and killed lots of people. And you cuff his hands at the front so he can kill people, take a gun and aim them. There are **hundreds** of ways to pacify this guy. How stupid were the captors?

- Handcuff his hands on the back. Have him tied to the horse (face down, tummy to the saddle) and have one man take the horse with him (while also riding a horse).
- Blindfold him.
- Gag his mouth so he wouldn't speak.

After he KILLED one of the captors, are we to believe that the sheriffs at the wild west era are pansies that just hit him?

- Shoot off his fingers
- Shoot off one of his leg
- Again, cuff this guy on the back

We are to believe that law enforcement people that are SMART enough to make a stagecoach bait are not smart enough to cuff this guys hand at the back. Heck, tie ropes all around him and his legs for that matter.

2) WE HAVE A MAN WHO IS MOST DEFINITELY WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE. YES, LET'S TAKE HIM TO YUMA WHERE THERE IS GREAT CHANCE THAT HE WILL ESCAPE AND WE WILL GET KILLED BY THE BANDITS. NO DON'T KILL HIM HERE AND NOW.

We are to believe that law enforcement at wild west are all corrupt, yet one of them believes in court and the law so strongly that he doesn't execute a man on the spot. It's like the law enforcement are all modern politically correct liberal lefties somehow transported to the wild west by some time machine (no wonder all of them are pansies and can't hold a gun, let alone aim them).

At one point, the *beep* law enforcer (that burned the barn) once said 'I say we shoot him right here right now' - NO REPLIES. Yes. That's right, THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO KILL HIM RIGHT THERE RIGHT NOW.

Remember. *This* *is* *the* *wild* *west*. Ever heard of the term 'Wanted dead or alive'?

3) WE OFFER $200 DOLLARS FOR EVERYBODY THAT KILLS A LAW ENFORCEMENT GUARD. YES, $200 FOR ALL OF YOU TO BE AN OUTLAW. AND THE WHOLE CITY FALLS FOR IT (30-40 PEOPLE)

*This* *is* *the* *wild* *west*. And this is the south. Citizens have guns. They loath bandits. It wasn't a small, obscure pirate's cove. It's an effing budding town with railroads. In a time and place where citizens have to fend for themselves against bandits, the whole town chooses to be an accessory to the crime, support the bandits and kill the sheriffs. I agree with they guy that said it, this is like osama bin laden offering 30,000-100,000 dollars to new york citizens to kill a cop - GUARDING AN EFFING TERRORIST.

I'll say no more and quote this amzing post by 32Ford:

You forgot to mention the dumbest part. We are supposed to believe a gang of 7 o outlaws with prices on their heads can ride into a town and sit around in the open on their horses and threaten the town Marshall? In the real west it would have taken about 3 minutes for the towns people to shoot them off their horses and then pose smiling for photos with the bodies while they wait for the reward money to come rolling in.

On top of that,we are supposed to believe one of the gang can shout out to the town that he will pay anybody 200 dollars each for each of the guards they murder,and the people in the town start grabbing their guns to go shoot the deputies and Marshall?

I am a BIG fan of Elmore Leonard,but if he wrote this script he had to have been smoking some super weed when he wrote it because it may be the dumbest damn thing I have ever seen.

4) WE HAVE 7 - YES -SEVEN PEOPLE DOWN BELOW, OMG WE ARE SO AFRAID. SO LET THE BANDIT GO OUT AND SPEAK TO THEM - THE MOST STUPID THING EVER IMAGINED. OH YES, AND DON'T SHOOT THE BANDITS BELOW EITHER.

How many IQs do you have to have, that you keep your prisoner's mouth stuffed rather than let him talk to his homeboys? They don't effing know for sure that he's at the motel for crying out loud.

Have you ever realized why the 7 guys waited instead of just storming inside?

1. The law enforcement guy have height and cover.
2. They are afraid of shooting because they might shoot their boss that they're trying to save. Why do you think they sit down and wait instead of going in?

And the seven guys there, in plain sight, the guys could have separated to different rooms with different vantage points, and starts shooting the below. In *the* *wild* *west* the marshal surrenders. Pathetic. You don't get to be marshals for being pansies, you get to be marshals for being tough.

5) LAW ENFORCEMENT CAN'T SHOOT.

Look, I know bandits at the *wild* *west* are tough. Marshals and sheriffs and bounty hunters and yes, even regular citizens, they are all tough too. In this movie, only bandits can shoot. The others are either afraid of shooting or have allergies with guns. Remember the holdup at the hotel. *No* *bullets* *fired*.

---

Now, the movie has an interesting concept - that the honest-to-the-core bale character could affect wade and his worldview, that they grow together as a character - but it was crudely made. If there was a change of heart in wade's character, it wasn't shown in words, expressions, or any kind of body language. Wade in this movie, let me stress this, is CONSTANTLY CONSISTENT. That's what made the sudden change of heart in the end quite unbelievable.

Many posters made interesting theories on how bale-character influence wade. I appreciate that, it shows some depth in the concept, however it's just not well made. It made this movie a disappointment.

/end rant










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you liked the movie!!but.....''after reading around a bit'' you thought this movie was a disappointment?sorry but thats just stupid

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Seven-rchristie, I couldn´t agree more. I feel relieved I wasn´t the only one to see so many mistakes in this movie. A real shame, such a nice production and all... I´ll give it a four, and that´s it.

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Your grievance is with the original movie, they couldn't change the plot, just the execution. It isn't neccisarily about the realism, it is about the different psycologies of the characters.

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1) Pacify the captor
-Handcuffing behind the back makes it too difficult to travel on horseback. For the most part, he was incarcerated pretty well. The only stupid lapse, and it was by the inexperience cow hand, was turning his back on the guy while he was taking a leak.

2) Kill him now
- not a good idea. 1. The Pinkerton guy wanted a show trial, killing the guy in town would have resulted in the first small town being raised. The Pinkerton guy said as much. 2. Try traveling with a corpse in a hot climate for a few days, it is very unpleasant and hard to handle.

3) $200 for everyone in town
- no, it was only to the person who actually kills his escort which was originally four, so it would have cost $800; not that he would have paid it.

4) Being scared of 7 bandits.
- They couldn't stay in the hotel, they had to catch the train or give up the mission. They chose to give up the mission. I agree that it was dumb for the law officers to actually leave the building where they got shot. The Pinkerton guy was smart and just stayed inside.

5) Law enforcement can't shoot.
- The only battle between law enforcement and the bandits was during the stagecoach robbery and they killed at least four of the bandits. The only reason that I can think of why they didn't start shooting from the hotel window near the end of the movie was that they didn't want to give away their position. It looks like they had a spy who signaled where they were. After they found out the opportunity was lost.

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Your 3rd point makes little sense if you understand economics. Your problem with that scene is not the amount of money they offer, its that you're not adjusting for inflation. You're thinking of the money offered in today's world. Except that 1 dollar in the mid-1800s was the equivalent of nearly 30 dollars today. So 200 USD in the 1800s was the equivalent of several thousands of dollars today. That was a fortune back then, people could live off that for years. And 1000? That was almost like being rich. Every gunman in Contention "fell for it" because 200 was a lot of money, the same as if someone were to offer you 10k today.

There's nothing wrong with that scene, or the money offered. You just have to adjust your understanding of the worth of money to the post-Civil War era this film takes place in.

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It's horse poop, nobody is going to be accessories to murder with all the witnesses around for whatever stolen money is offered.

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