A watchable disappointment

jellyneckr

I've been looking for a copy of 8 Million Ways to Die for probably about twelve years now. Having been a box office flop and one of the rare movies that has never been released on DVD, it's easily the film I've been looking to find longer than any other. Needless to say, when I finally saw this was playing on cable, I couldn't wait to finally watch it. Unfortunately, my years of anticipation built up unrealistic expectations, and as I made my way through the film, I became less interested and more let down as the film went on.

On the plus side, 8 Million Ways to Die has a pretty solid first 45 minutes or so. Despite changing Matt Scudder's great origin story from the novel to something more generic and less dramatically interesting, the character is still a somewhat fascinating one, thanks entirely due to a typically entertaining performance from Jeff Bridges in the lead role. While I greatly prefer Liam Neeson's portrayal of Scudder in A Walk Among the Tombstones, Bridges' performance is better than the weak script deserves. Even with co-screen writing credit going to Oliver Stone, every detective story cliché is present and there's nothing particularly surprising about the chain of events as presented in the film, but Bridges carries the film on his shoulders and makes the first half of the movie worth watching.

However, 8 Million Ways to Die takes a drastic drop in quality in the second act with Andy Garcia's villain character taking center stage. I love Andy Garcia in everything else I've seen him, but his performance here is simply baffling. Over-the-top to the most extreme degree, its embarrassing to watch, something that I don't think is entirely Garcia's fault. The film was taken away from director Hal Ashby and edited without his input, so who knows who actually is responsible for what ended up in the final cut. Garcia's performance seems like something that could have been shaped into the editing room, as a little bit of his character goes a long way and gets annoying fast. I find it hard to believe that an otherwise solid director like Ashby would have let the second half play out the way it does had he been given final cut. The second half of 8 Million Ways to Die is a mess, tonally inconsistent with the first half and actually mildly painful to watch at times.

Despite a not-so-stellar second half, 8 Million Ways to Die is not a complete disaster. It's simply a disappointing film that should have been a lot better. It's a real mystery why the film isn't available on DVD, as there are hundreds of worse and even less profitable films that have been released on DVD and Blu Ray. Maybe it's due to a complicated rights issue, which is probably slightly more interesting than the movie itself. Regardless, fans of Lawrence Block's Scudder novels, not to mention fans of Jeff Bridges, would still love to see this get a proper release. 8 Million Ways to Die is a disappoint for sure, though it's still a decent time waster for those who are into mysteries. 5/10

score /10

jellyneckr 4 September 2016

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3537797/