Talkie Tuesday: Jane Got A Gun

"You don't need a gunslinger - you need a goddamn regiment."

Hello everyone!

My movie blog this week is of a movie that's been sitting in my notebook for a while now. For some reason I kind of postponed it - okay, well, I know the reason. Game of Thrones happened right around the time when I watched the movie so I then decided to post recaps of episodes per week instead of doing regular movie blog posts. 

Now I'm back to my regular schedule after trying not to get a heart attack while watching the second season of Scandal (yeah, it's THAT good, really).

So I think the first time I got wind of this movie, Jane Got A Gun, it was in a movie theatre prior to seeing something else, and it didn't catch my eye because it had Natalie Portman in it (although that's reason enough, in my opinion), nor did it catch my eye because it was a western movie that looked as though it was plenty fun.

To be perfectly honest, the reason why I wanted to watch it was because, besides Portman, it had two other actors I knew: Ewan McGregor and Joel Edgerton. 

For those less movie-savvy: all three of the above-mentioned actors played together in the Star Wars Prequel episodes, so this movie was kind of a reunion for them.

Not that I'm sure if it was ever penned like that, obviously; it might just be my own doing and my over active mind coming up with the idea. But it's kind of a romantic notion I suppose, and a really cool one, to think that the three of them probably hadn't worked with one another since Revenge of the Sith came out all those years ago, so I was definitely interested to see what Padmé, Owen, and Obi-Wan were up to in the Old West.

The movie storyline is split into two parts, interlocked between one another, but for continuity and understanding, I decided to nail them both together separately.

Starting with the past and what happened years ago before what I presume was the Civil War, Dan and Jane were engaged to be married and doing all sorts of lovey-dovey things. He enlisted, however, despite the fact that she didn't want him to, and then went off to MIA status for three years. Jane, meanwhile, learned she was pregnant with his child, and had to find a way to survive.

She succeeded in joining a wagon train west following John Bishop, who turned out to be a scoundrel (and doesn't that role suit McGregor SO much? I thought it did) and sold her to a brothel, where she probably would have languished if not for Bill Hammond, an employee of Bishop's, who saved her.

Thinking that her daughter was dead, they fled for their lives and eventually married, going on to have another little girl, which was around the time when Dan returned from the war to ... nothing.

He didn't have anyone to return to because Jane wasn't his anymore, so he became a grumpy drunk.

Which brings us to the present and the fact that Bishop has been searching for the two of them, finally finding Hammond and peppering him with bullets, but Hammond doesn't die until he returns to Jane, telling her Bishop is definitely coming for her.

Having no other choice, she goes into town for supplies, and enlists the help of her ex-lover, reluctantly. Dan probably only goes along because he still loves her.

Duh.

They almost re-kindle their relationship - she still loves him, too, obviously - when Bishop and his men arrive, but Dan pretty much booby trapped the whole area and it all goes up in flames, while Bishop is handily taken care of by Jane, after she learns her first daughter, her and Dan's daughter, is actually still alive, and still at the brothel.

The fight over, they collect the ransom money for the outlaws (oh yeah, did I forget to mention that?) and pack everything up to move to California, and get a fresh start.

I loved it. It was simple, non complicated and definitely entertaining, not to mention that everyone did a spectacular job in acting. Plus, western accents always get me into giggling fits, and McGregor's moustache made me want to roll around like an idiot.

But it was pretty condensed in terms of time (past aspects aside), which I enjoyed, since a lot of stories nowadays get stretched over so much timespan it's not even funny!

The low number of actors and characters also made it easier to follow, which is definitely a good sign.

So, all in all, an enjoyable way to spend an evening!

xx

*images and video not mine