Rust
A Western blighted by tragedy is a testament to the visual flair of its late cinematographer.
Alec Baldwin and Patrick Scott McDermott
Image courtesy of Metfilm Distribution.
Many of the reviews of Rust that I have read choose to recount the already well-documented violent death of its Ukrainian photographer Halyna Hutchins to whom the finished film is now dedicated. Some potential viewers may be influenced by that tragedy when it comes to deciding whether or not they want to see it. But to my mind that is entirely their choice and not something that should be taken into account by a critic whose function is simply to assess any film regardless of external circumstances. On that basis I can say that Rust is a work that contains good things but also suffers from serious misjudgments.
It seems right to regard Rust as Alec Baldwin's project since, in addition to starring in it, he is one of the many producers and also created the story along with Joel Souza who wrote the screenplay and directed. What took me by surprise is that this can be considered an epic Western lasting as it does for some 139 minutes. Admittedly that is well short of the three hours taken by Kevin Costner in his pet project of 1990, Dances with Wolves. Until that film was screened and proved to be a triumph, it had been thought that it would be a flop and was decidedly over-ambitious. But, since in the event Kevin Costner was seen to have been fully justified, it is easy to imagine that Baldwin saw Rust as a personal endeavour which had a certain parallel with that film.
The opening section of Rust gets the film off to a good start. Shot in wide screen and set in 1882, it paints a persuasive portrait of life in Wyoming as it focuses on Lucas Hollister (Patrick Scott McDermott) a boy of thirteen or so who, following the death of both of his parents, is shaping up by keeping the family farm going and by looking after his younger brother, Jacob (Easton Malcolm). In town he has a dispute with a farmer whose son is mishandling Jacob and, when Lucas subsequently fires a shot which accidentally kills the farmer, this earlier incident is seen as reason to believe that this was a premeditated action on his part. This leads to Lucas being sentenced to death despite his age. Hearing of this, a relative, Evelyn Basset (Frances Fisher), turns up but can do nothing. However, another new arrival in town is Harland Rust and he can break into the jail holding Lucas, seize the boy and ride off with him. Rust (which is, of course, Baldwin's role) is the boy’s maternal grandfather and a known outlaw.
These early scenes immediately make their impact establishing the characters effectively while also being aided by David Andalman's editing which gets the drama moving. From early on there are passing echoes of such well-known Westerns as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Searchers and Unforgiven and one feels that Rust, if hardly likely to be in that class, might nevertheless become a work of some distinction. But, as the film moves on, problems become evident. The story as it unfolds is one that is devoted to Rust and the boy heading for New Mexico but with the likelihood of them getting there threatened twice over. First, there's the local sheriff, Wood Helm (Josh Hopkins), who is out to capture Rust and Lucas no matter how long the pursuit. Secondly, with Rust being identified and an outlaw known to have a price on his head, a bounty hunter, Fenton Lang (Travis Fimmel), is in equally hot pursuit and is a man to be feared. People refer to him as ‘Preacher’ and as a man of the cloth who is patently evil, he owes something to Robert Mitchum's character in the now celebrated classic The Night of the Hunter. Both Helm and Preacher have companions in their quest and, as one might expect of a Western, we have here a tale that allows for many a situation to turn into a shoot-out. But, although that element is present, the tone of Rust is such that it does not come over as an adventure tale in a Western setting. On the contrary, its character is that of a work which is intended to evoke the conditions of life in that part of America in the 1880s. Even if Rust is this film’s chosen title, it is fair to say that the real focal figure is young Lucas and the hardships that he undergoes as he experiences the realities of life in the Wild West. Despite the other films that came to mind as mentioned above, I would say that the real predecessor to Baldwin’s film is one made in 2014 by Tommy Lee Jones which portrayed the harshness of existence endured by settlers: that film, a masterpiece, was The Homesman.
However, if something on those lines was intended here, the film fails to achieve it. Several factors contribute to this, two of them closely linked. First, there is the overindulgence represented by the film’s length. It’s in consequence of this that the tautness of the early scenes is lost and the work becomes notably episodic as it cuts back-and-forth three ways - which is to say between Helm’s posse, Preacher and his associates and their target. Extended in this way, the tale regardless of any outbreaks of violence loses any real sense of dramatic tension being built up. It's also the case that the pursuers include so many figures that they tend to blur rather than taking on any real individuality. Perhaps the oddest weakness given that Rust was so much Baldwin’s project lies in the fact that he is not well cast as the titular outlaw. Harland Rust is described as being full of anger and, despite being the boy’s grandfather, his early treatment to Lucas is anything but gentle. Nevertheless, it is no surprise that as the story goes on his bond with the boy grows. Yet Baldwin's Rust seems all set for that from the start rather than being the tough guy whose reputation as an outlaw matches his appearance and manner. References to his past history suggest that fate and bad luck made Rust what he has become, but that's not enough for one to feel that Baldwin has the measure of the role.
The other players fare better and one can see that the ill-fated Halyna Hutchins did indeed have an eye for effective images. But Rust, although more individual than I had expected, is a decidedly uneven work right down to its last section which involves rather too much intercutting for the drama to play out to its best advantage. If one judges the film simply as a movie and puts to one side the notoriety that grew out of its making, Rust contains some good work, but ultimately it is undermined by its length and by a screenplay that would have gained from a rewrite tightening up the narrative drastically.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Alec Baldwin, Josh Hopkins, Patrick Scott McDermott, Travis Fimmel, Frances Fisher, Rhys Coiro, Devon Werkheiser, Xander Berkeley, Jake Busey, Abraham Benrubi, Travis Hammer, Easton Malcolm.
Dir Joel Souza, Pro Alec Baldwin, Matt DelPiano, Ryan Donnell Smith, Anjul Nigam, Grant Hill, Melina Spadone, Ryan Winterstein and Nathan Klingher, Screenplay Joel Souza, from a story by Joel Souza and Alec Baldwin, Ph Halyna Hutchins and Bianca Cline, Pro Des Christine Brandt and Bryan Norvelle, Ed David Andalman, Music James Jackson and Lilie Bytheway-Hoy, Costumes Terese Davis.
El Dorado/Short Porch Picture/Thomasville Pictures/April Productions/120dB Films/Cavalry Media/Rust Movie Productions LLC-Signature Entertainment.
139 mins. USA. 2024. US Rel: 2 May 2025. UK Rel: 23 June 2025. Cert. 15.
