Holstra
Boring, long, and too preachy.
Twilightfa
Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.
SeeQuant
Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
Stephan Hammond
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
FightingWesterner
Blind gunslinger Armand Assante rides into a town under siege by Mexican bandits, led by villainous Robert Davi. It seems they chased Adam Baldwin's Army regiment and the silver shipment they were escorting into the town church weeks earlier.With it's vivid heroes and heavies, bright color scheme, and exaggerated action sequences, Blind Justice plays like an entertaining, live action comic-book. I wasn't too surprised to find out that this was in part inspired by exactly that.This has a nice cast too. Armand Assante is always cool. In a perfect world, he would be an A-list star! Robert Davi never disappoints, especially when he plays a colorful bad guy. Elizabeth Shue is quite appealing as Assante's love interest.Incredible scenes have Assante riding blind through a wall of flame and being crucified by Davi! The amazing climax is utterly explosive!HBO Pictures should drop the boring political stuff and go back to making good escapist movies like this.
Woodyanders
Armand Assante gives a marvelously assured and charismatic performance as Canaan, a blind and embittered Civil War veteran turned roving gunslinger who travels across the country with a baby in tow. Canaan stops off in a lawless small town and runs afoul of a foul gang of desperadoes led by the ruthless Alacran (Robert Davi in fine nasty form). Alacran and his men want to gain possession of a stash of silver coins that's being guarded by an ever-diminishing handful of U.S. Cavalrymen. Canaan agrees to help the desperate soldiers, but only if he gets paid 200 pounds worth of silver for his troubles. Ably directed by Richard Spence, with a neat and engrossing script by Daniel Knauf, the gritty-funky look and feel of a vintage 60's Italian spaghetti Western, a steady pace, polished cinematography by Jack Conroy, several rousing and well-staged action set pieces (Canaan's pre-credits introduction is absolutely priceless!), and a nice line in dark humor, this nifty little number makes for a fun and engrossing viewing experience. While Assante clearly owns the show with his spot-on portrayal of the wry, likable and dangerous Canaan, kudos are nonetheless still in order for the excellent supporting cast: Elisabeth Shue as feisty nurse Caroline, Adam Baldwin as the ramrod Sergeant Hastings, M.C. Gainey as vicious lackey Bull, Clayton Landey as folksy bartender Ernie Fowler, Jimmy Herman as a crazed demolitions-obsessed Native American shaman, Ian McElhinney as the shady Father Malone, and a then unknown Jack Black in a funny small part as a jerky private. This offbeat and entertaining film is well worth a watch.
dokmartin
I fell in love with this movie when I saw it for the first time on HBO the year it first came out. Now, being that I am something of an old west buff, I was interested to see how a movie about a blind gunfighter would work. I was not disappointed. The premise is unique. Armand Assante brought a depth to the role that gave it paths. You could relate to the character of Canaan and sympathize with him. Robert Davi borough his usual menace as Alacran, the leader of the bandits. Elizabeth Shue was alright, but could have been more developed, though she does play the lass in distress well. M.C. Gainly, who was also in the HBO movie "El Diablo" as a demolitions expert, was also in this movie, though he did not have all that many lines or scenes, was also quite bad as Alacran's hit man, but in a good, bad guy, kinda way. Jack Black has a cameo as a army sentry, which was rather funny, if a bit short. The chap who played the Bartender Ernie Fowler was cool, as was the Native American fellow who played a bomb obsessed shaman.There is also a fellow in this movie who will later appear in the HBO series Deadwood. The other characters, while cool and well acted, were not that developed and felt alittle wooden. The script needed some fine tuning, such as making the characters less wooded, but it was other wise alright. The score, which was done by Richard Gibbs of Queen of the Damned fame, was very fitting indeed. I wish a soundtrack would be put out for this movie. I have liked everything I have seen Armand Assante in and this is yet another example of why. Much props for HBO for making this movie and I hope they revisit the characters again soon.
hokeybutt
The movie itself is not that great... it's an unimaginatively-conceived western that is not much more gritty or believable than an episode of "Gunsmoke". The premise is terrific, hearkening back to the plots of old Italian spaghetti westerns... a blind gunfighter carrying a newborn baby comes to a small town overrun by bad men and proceeds to shoot out with every bad guy within range. What makes this movie memorable for me, though, is a GREAT performance by Armand Assante as the blind Canaan. He transcends every other acting job in the movie... no one else seems either authentic or interesting. Assante, however, has done his homework and seems like he wouldn't be out of place at all in an old "Django" movie. Elisabeth Shue is pretty but totally unconvincing as a frontier femme who comes to the aid of Assante and the young baby girl. Every one else is a typical western cartoon... stuffy army officers, nasty bandits with thick accents, etc. (Jack Black appears at one point as an army sentry... which is a little more disconcerting now that he is famous for his more comedic roles.) Fortunately, whenever Assante is on screen he makes the movie work... even some of the ridiculous one-liners. "How do you like your eggs? Scrambled?" (said while clutching a bad guy's genitals).