PLOT: A boy left to fend for himself and his younger brother following their parents’ deaths in 1880s Wyoming goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather after he is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.
REVIEW: Most people will already know of Rust due to the controversy that has long surrounded the project. Halyna Hutchins’ death is an absolute tragedy and is a dark cloud hanging over the film. Like Brandon Lee with The Crow or the tragedy of Twilight Zone: The Movie, some things will always be associated with their respective films, and some people will never get past it. And it’s really up to the individual viewer as to whether or not they want to watch the film given the circumstances, but it should be noted that profits on the film will be going to Hutchins’ family. But does Rust stand on its own?
Rust follows a young boy named Lucas after he accidentally kills a local farmer and is set to hang. His grandpa, Rust, thought long dead, breaks him out, and a massive manhunt ensues. The narrative follows three groups of people: Rust and Lucas, the US Marshals on their tail, and Preacher, an off his rocker Bounty Hunter with loose morals. Each sort of feels like a different film, having a different tone than the others. It makes for an uneven story that feels stitched together. But when they finally all converged, I was surprised to see that it actually kind of worked. Too bad that’s not until the final thirty minutes.
The acting is a bit all over the place, with some people really impressing and others looking straight out of the bargain bin. In the face of controversy, Baldwin manages to be pretty good as Harland Rust, the worn-down cowboy with a dark past (even if his accent comes and goes). Travis Fimmel’s Fenton “Preacher” Lang is easily the highlight of the film. He brings such unease when he’s on screen and gives the film a darker edge. He should have been in the movie more as he’s the only part that felt unique. I had a really tough time with the character of Lucas as he acts the part of a dumb kid, and is a constant thorn in the story. Doesn’t help that he’s essentially one of the leads.
The gun battles are nothing short of ridiculous, which is not good for a Western. They’re executed well on a technical level, but make no sense half the time. Gunslingers constantly shooting without any cover and somehow not getting hit? Happens more times than I could count. And there’s a moment where Rust gets the jump on two guys, we see he has his shots perfectly lined up, then somehow manages to just shoot them in the legs. There’s a sloppiness in logic that feels like a disservice to the otherwise well-shot film. I assume a lot of this has to do with the cobbled-together nature of the production. The tragic shooting resulted in a large gap in filming and it results in some pretty obvious filmmaking tricks. Body doubles and green screen had to be used, but I’d say they make the best of it. I never found anything laughably out of place.
Thankfully, the most impressive element of Rust is the cinematography. Halyna Hutchins had quite an eye and really took advantage of the western setting. It can be a bit drab, but that’s clearly the intention, and I think it works. I loved the wide open vistas and how she photographs nature. It’s still not entirely clear as to how much of the film Bianca Cline took part in, but the visual parity of the film continues throughout. The behind the scenes of this film would be absolutely fascinating, but with all the legal elements, I’m not sure we’ll ever hear the full story.
I went into Rust with an open mind, and there were many elements that I enjoyed. But there will always be the lingering history of the tragedy that happened on set. Because of that, I’m not sure it will ever get a fair shot, but it’s worth seeing for Hutchins’ absolutely breathtaking cinematography. She was able to present this world in a way that both pays homage to westerns of the past while still keeping a modern sharpness to it. But everything else is just a generic western that would have likely been forgotten had it not been for the tragic shooting. The irony is that: whose to say how much became generic because of the circumstances surrounding the shooting/reshoots.
RUST RELEASES TO THEATERS ON MAY 2ND, 2025.
