Broken Horses

source: Broken Horses

*Some spoilers* Why all the low ratings? Was I one of the very few who thought this movie great? To start off, I DID get hacked off when Thomas Jane died so quickly! But, it was the emphasis for the show. A really good movie about the bond between a semi- mentally-challenged older brother, and his normal, very gifted younger brother. I DID, also, think that, even tho the older brother (Marquette) was "slow", he jumped right into the work with D'Onofrio a little too easily ... especially with his dead dad having been a cop/sheriff. Meanwhile, Yelchin's character has focused solely on learning the violin, and the story really gets going when, after 8 years, Yelchin's "Jakey" comes back home for a visit and finds out that big bubba "Budds" has become a prolific hit-man for D'Onofrio's gang of n'er-do-wells. Jakey borrows Budds car to go see an old friend, and on the way back, D'Onofrio has put a hit on li'l Jakey (which fails), and so Jake decides to become part of the gang, to try and tear it down from the inside, and, also, save his big bubba. Needless to say, there are several twists and almost "gotcha's", before the ending, which, I thought, brought everything pretty much together for the right conclusion. Don't expect "blockbuster", just good, old-fashioned entertainment ... and you won't be disappointed!

This is that kind of movie that maybe it wasn't for cinema. I mean, for a T.V. movie is OK; it has a story that tries to involve you in the "family values"'s sort of way, but it doesn't really grab your attention at its fullest. The main problem is that the beginning has a poor rhythm, you don't quite connect with the characters nor the story and as it goes on doesn't change much... you are there waiting and waiting, and almost a half an hour later you start to pay attention to it, only to figure it out what it is gonna happen next, almost immediately. So it lacks of emotion and development, it has no complexity whatsoever and also the performances are "average", except for Marquette, maybe the striking point. Also it has a nice cinematography and i quite like it the place where was filmed (if you're a fan of the landscapes); but that is all. So, you CAN watch it, but don't expect much.

This is not your normal movie with 2 stories running parallel moving between them. This is not a movie with special effects. This is not even a gangster movie with lots of gunfight or blood and gore. This is a story about brothers. Brotherhood and commitment. This is a story about people with choices. This is about bravery. This movie is also about how bad people actually do things. Bad people don't go around shooting others. Lest they go to the jail. Bad men make others kill each other. Survival in this world is to know what is right and wrong. It has been a long time since I have seen a moving story such as this. The acting was above average by all actors. Even the girl who only appears a few times makes an impression. This movie is not for action fans. Please stay away if you are. This movie is for sensitive people who like to think during a movie and talk about it after the movie.

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK) Rating: 2.8/5 stars To the Hindi film audience in India, "Broken Horses" comes across as nothing more than a 2015 reworking of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's seminal 1989 crime saga, "Parinda". The similarities between the two films are so prevalent and irrefutable - motifs, characters, the plot, even scenes - that to a person who has watched "Parinda", "Broken Horses" feels like that film with a different cast, and therein lies the biggest glitch with the veteran filmmaker's Hollywood debut. Chopra's "Parinda" has basically returned 25 years later on-screen as Chopra's "Broken Horses", with Mexico's dust bowls replacing Mumbai's mean streets, a ranch on a lake replacing a crucial boat, two brothers joined by love and circumstances now also tied by a slight mental disability, and a lot less blood and a lot more conscious style. As for a person who hasn't watched "Parinda" - and most of Chopra's Hollywood audience would fall in that category - this film feels rocky, with certain parts of the story not quite adding up. What could have been acceptable in a 1989 Mumbai, is not quite so on the 2015 Mexico border. So while Chopra's "Parinda" was a pathbreaker in 1989, giving the first gritty portrayal of the underworld in Bollywood, his first Hollywood venture won't make any waves on those well-trodden shores. Particularly as "Parinda" itself drew comparisons with a classic crime film that preceded it by three decades - Elia Kazan's Marlon Brando starrer, "On the Waterfront". The ensemble cast does a commendable job, with D'Onofrio, Marquette, Yelchin, and Valverde all coming across as believable. Nana Patekar's pyrophobic Anna Seth of "Parinda" sees a parallel in D'Onofrio's Hench, who has an irrational nervous breakdown on seeing a burning candle in a church. Marquette is convincing in his role as Buddy, a man who is somewhat slow, but impeccable with the gun and his fists, and is easily brainwashed. Yelchin is passable as the violinist who needs to dirty his hands to save his brother. Valverde's Vittoria evokes copious pathos and admiration for the composure and resolve she displays under trying circumstances, regardless of the minimal screen time she gets. On the technical front, Tom Stern's cinematography is par excellence, and is among the stronger points of the film - shots of the Mexican countryside are beautifully captured. A scene that particularly stands out is the one where the extraction of orange juice is interspersed with goons being killed. On the editing front it seems that Todd E. Miller's scissors were a bit too sharp and snappy, which could probably be the biggest reason that "Broken Horses" doesn't retain even a semblance of "Parinda's" excellence. The producers needed to understand or Chopra himself should have convinced the producers that a story of this magnitude needed the runtime of a Bollywood film, if it had any chance of creating an encore of the multi-layered depths and rich character arcs of its source material. The soundtrack does justice to the film, but doesn't stay with you once the curtains come down. In all, "Broken Horses" is nothing but "Parinda" with western actors and without the same impact. While "Parinda" was a brilliant gangster movie and way ahead of its time, this one doesn't impress as much. That isn't saying "Broken Horses" is a bad film; it's more than a decent crime story, and can even be enjoyed to a moderate extent. But the fact that it's an adaptation of what could easily be considered among Indian cinema's 10 finest films ever, and the very same Director - an ace filmmaker no less - who helmed that film comes up short in this adaptation; stirs a level of infuriation and frustration within you, especially for those who loved "Parinda". Watch it if you're keen on seeing what the first Hollywood film written, directed, and produced by an Indian filmmaker is like. Else, just treat yourself by re- watching "Parinda" all over again.

The acting was fabulous - very well done - well shot - we were surprised and impressed. The way the story was set up was shocking and yet made sense - mental deficiency is a cloudy and mysterious thing to observe in real life and very hard to act it was well - so Christopher Marquette did a great job - and evil men - as deeply evil as Vincent Donofrio's character was is also very hard to play - so the casting of those two roles as well as the brother, Jake and his fiancé was what held my interest - and I felt the cinematography was excellent. It is never clear whether it is the direction, acting or shooting that makes for a compelling story and usually it has to be all three - so, it got me. Having been in the business for many decades and knowing how hard all that is to get right, I was impressed. Hope they got their money back on it and have good memories...It was a very different journey for me as a viewer of many adventure and thriller films.

It feels like an attempt to create dramatic violence similar to Martin Scorsese but this plan goes south super fast. The typical formula of two brothers whose father is killed before they are men. The oldest brother becomes a bad guy in order to take care of the younger brother assuring he becomes a good guy, And just when the good guy's life is about to turn great, he decides he needs to see his brother after years of silence to make life perfect,but of course things go bad when this happens. The characters were not as stereotyped, as I make it. They had some death to it and it was well executed by the actors playing these characters. The story was a good one as well. But the filmmakers style needs work. I just saw that this movie was written directed and produced by an Indian filmmaker. It could have been culturally I did not find the dramatic pauses appealing, just overall melodramatic, but I'll give him points for not going all Bollywood on me and sliding in musical numbers that made no since( and I can see places in the movie were he could have done that) Yeah, I found it more silly than anything so I won't recommend.

After the first 15 mins of the Movie I was really glued to my seat. Though the story line is the 'Baap' of all Hindi Movie plots but the way the thing was shown on the Silver Screen really demands some kudos from the audience. Mr Vidhu Vinod Chopra has done a excellent work in presenting the old wine in a new bottle packed with superb flavors which has aged into perfection and is a feast for the eyes. Hats off to the Screenplay and Direction skills which has enriched the movie from all angles. Some may say that it was too melodramatic and I also agree to it at some point but at the same time my other half tells me that as this is a Commercial movie so some things need to change in order to get a good Box Office review. I would recommend this movie to all Indian Audiences in India and Abroad including our veteran Film Makers, Actors and Producers too, to take this as an Inspiration and conquer Hollywood. We shall never forget the fact that till now Bollywood is the Largest Film Industry in the Universe and we need to show the World that too through Hollywood. Lastly Hats off to Mr Chopra for giving us a masterpiece in the form of Broken Horses. Keep it Up Sir !!!

I don't get it. This movie has some high levels supporters (such as James Cameron) praising the movie, yet I can't see in any way how they are able to back it up. We have here a film centring round two brothers, who are caught in the middle of a corruption ring. One brother is slow witted and is being used whilst the other is trapped in his efforts to help his brother. It's about brotherhood, loyalty, blood etc etc. The problem is that it just isn't gripping. The storyline is mostly poor and nothing complex, but the underlying themes need something challenging. It's absent here. The main leads are fair enough and not big names, working hard with the material in front of them, but they can little save this. The cinematography is beautiful and so is the natural scenery, but that's as good as it gets. Not by any means the poorest film of late, but one that I can't seem to like. If it wasn't for the major sponsors of this film it likely would never have got any of the attention it ever did.

The veteran producer-director Vidhu Vinod Chopra ventures into Hollywood and delivers a film that might not be able to impress the west as well as the east due to its overused, stale subject that cinema lovers have seen umpteen times all over the world in various films from the same genre. No doubt VVC never made BROKEN HORSES for the Indian audience. But since he did release it in India, therefore reviewing it from an Indian perspective the film manages to impress just marginally due to its technical excellence alone, majorly because the viewers here have already seen everything presented in the film earlier in director's own PARINDA released in 1989. In fact it was quite surprising and weird to know that even after 25 years of successful film-making with innovative, creative minds such as Hirani, Aamir and more, VVC still could think of remaking PARINDA only while moving on to Hollywood. For friends willing to know the details of similarities between PARINDA and BROKEN HORSES, here too we have childhood reference of two kids (Jackie & Anil), heartfelt love of elder brother who joins the crime world, a crazy gangster (Nana Patekar) having an obsession with fire whose family was burnt alive, the younger brother (Anil) returning after a long gap, his audition for entering the gang killing a helping friend (Sameer Kakkar), his revenge from the gangster, the gang rivalry with another mobster (Moosa – Tom Alter), the mobster helping the younger brother, the young one's love affair with a girl (Madhuri), their marriage and first night selected for their killing (where the yacht gets replaced by a ranch) and then the finale with (thankfully) a change where everyone doesn't die like in PARINDA. So the only single difference in the storyline is the missing character of Anupam Kher and a GODFATHER inspired sequence that goes missing in BROKEN HORSES playing it safe. Looking at these exact similar sequences and the dead slow pace of the film, the film is bound to be rejected by the English film viewers here in India and the fact was pretty clear when I found myself all alone sitting in the theatre in its very first show which was also running after my repeated request made to the theatre manager. Coming to the western audience, the subject is certainly not new for them too after watching several movies made on the plot of a mole seeking his revenge or related subjects based on gang wars beginning from the classic ON THE WATERFRONT released way back in 1954. Moreover the annoyingly slow place in the beginning and then few shallow sequences like 'the interview' doesn't let you form any great opinion about the film either quite frankly. However the emotional execution of VVC, along with some well directed violent scenes, impressive cinematography, a fine background score and noteworthy production values (all western technicians) are sure to get noticed in Hollywood, coming from an Indian film-maker representing an industry known to be obsessed with music, songs and dances. In the performances, Christopher G. Marquette takes a big lead as Buddy and does manage to engage the viewer emotionally (he actually saves the movie) whereas Anton Yelchin presents a simple yet honest act as his younger brother becoming the rebel.D'Onofrio trying to be the cunningly ruthless gangster doesn't work really and the same can be said about Sean Patrick Flanery (the music teacher) and Maria Valverde too playing the lady love of Anton. In short, it was quite hard to understand the reason why Vidhu Vinod Chopra couldn't think of any fresh innovative idea while venturing into Hollywood. Plus after watching the film, it makes you both laugh & wonder together that why he was denying the fact of BROKEN HORSES being an exact version of his PARINDA in all those interviews and press statements before its release? May be he did it on purpose to get a get good initial before the secret was out.