Not a lot of violence occurs in “Slow West”; Maclean keeps the focus on the characters. But when there is, it happens swiftly and casually. In fact, the violent beats happen so quickly that, before the audience has a chance to process what’s happened, the surviving characters in the scene have already gotten back up on their horses and moved on. The shock value of violence is removed. The people who inhabit “Slow West” are so used to violence being part of everyday life and survival that they don’t seem fazed by it in the least.
While Maclean’s somewhat-apathetic style does create emotional distance, it also prevents the movie from feeling exploitive. Here’s an ultra-bleak, pessimistic western that doesn’t wallow in sadness or linger endlessly on scenes of suffering. When traveling through an uncertain and hostile frontier, there’s no time to dwell upon what’s already taken place.
Otherwise, “Slow West” is a solid, if unremarkable, picture, bolstered by two understated performances from Michael Fassbender and Kodi Smit-Mcphee. The latter plays Jay Kavindish, a Scotsman who travels the frontier in search of a girl from back home.
“Slow West” is a coming-of-age movie of sorts: Jay is optimistic and sees the West as a place of opportunity. He will soon come to realize the West is a harsh place, full of people driven by greed. Even the people who appear to be friendly and trustworthy ultimately have selfish motivations. Smit-Mcphee does a great job of playing up the naiveté and delusion of Jay without making him pathetic or annoying.
Fassbender plays Silas Selleck, a lone frontiersman whose sole instinct is to survive. He offers to be Jay’s guide and, along the way, turns into a father figure, teaching him how to shave and twirl his gun.
Fassbender achieves a near-perfect balance of firmness and compassion. He can be mean and unsympathetic but only because one needs to be to survive in such a hostile and unpredictable environment. And as the film goes on, the two come to an understanding and even begin to care for one another.
“Slow West” is hindered by some other issues: A voice-over narration by Silas is unnecessary because it tells us bits of information about character or narrative that we can easily grasp from the images themselves. Also, the optimistic ending feels tacked on, not in keeping with the overall tone of the picture.
Even though the picture is lean at 84 minutes and moves at a relatively fast pace, not a lot happens in the traditional sense of a western action film; it’s not exciting or entertaining the way a movie like “Django Unchained” is. Maclean avoids epic scale and spectacle in favor of minimal realism.
However, the picture’s apathetic approach to violence and the intimate scale —focusing closely on the relationship between the two leads — make “Slow West” worth checking out.