Ethan Hawke must have taken a shine to the feeling of a leather hat on his head as he can now be seen again in the ol’ wild west as a rugged hero and damn fine shot in the first trailer for Ti West‘s In a Valley of Violence. When a drifter (Hawke) and his dog wander into a small town, a local gunslinger (a gleeful James Ransone) picks a fight he wasn’t ready to start in earnest, but soon becomes hellbent on finishing after he’s shown up and knocked out cold by the loner. The sheriff (John Travolta, sporting some facial hair) just wants peace and quiet, upset once the violence breaks out in spades as he knows the drifter has a military past. The trailer for the film set to arrive this October promises dark humor, plenty of violence, and a tad bit of human-dog bonding.
We said in our review: “In a Valley of Violence is easily the most conventional of West’s career, as it not only follows a traditional progression, but also feels far less concerned with spontaneity or the mediation of its own message. At first, it’s refreshing to see West work within Hollywood’s strictures, but it’s also deflating to see him pushing towards instead of against tired genre tropes like sidelined women characters, and unmotivated bloodlust. West’s slow-burn direction remains singular with sequences that are often thematically difficult to watch, but always visually engaging. But even as West shows obvious fondness for the spectrum of the western genre from classicists like Howard Hawks to midnight movie-friendly splatterfests, he just doesn’t have the writing facilities to make the anachronistic dialogue convincing, or push rote archetypes beyond their one-dimensional understanding.”
See the trailer below for the film also starring Karen Gillan, Taissa Farmiga, Larry Fassenden, and Toby Huss.
A mysterious drifter named Paul (Ethan Hawke) and his dog (YouTube sensation Jumpy) make their way towards Mexico through the barren desert of the old west. In an attempt to shorten their journey, they cut through the center of a large valley — landing themselves in the forgotten town of Denton, a place now dubbed by locals as a “valley of violence.” The once-popular mining town is nearly abandoned and controlled by a brash group of misfits — chief among them Gilly (James Ransone), the troublemaking son of the town’s Marshal (John Travolta).
As tensions rise between Paul and Gilly, Denton’s remaining residents bear witness to an inevitable act of violence that starts a disastrous chain reaction, infecting the petty lives of all involved and quickly drags the whole town into the bloody crosshairs of revenge. Mary-Anne (Taissa Farmiga) and Ellen (Karen Gillan), two bickering sisters who run the town’s only hotel, try to find the good in both men, while desperately searching for their own salvation. Only the world-weary Marshal struggles to stop the violent hysteria, but after a gruesome discovery about Paul’s past… there is no stopping the escalation.From writer/director Ti West (THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, THE INNKEEPERS, and THE SACRAMENT) and Blumhouse Productions (INSIDIOUS, THE VISIT, WHIPLASH and THE GIFT), IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE brings absurdist humor, unique dialogue and West’s shocking scenes of violence to the Western genre. The film also boasts a stellar supporting cast that includes Toby Huss (“Halt and Catch Fire”), Burn Gorman (THE DARK NIGHT RISES, PACIFIC RIM) and genre darling Larry Fessenden (YOU’RE NEXT, I SELL THE DEAD).
In a Valley of Violence opens in theaters and on VOD October 21st.