The Warrant is a 2020 western about two Civil War Union Army buddies who find themselves on opposite sides of the law with the post-war peace at risk.
Set fours years after the American Civil War, Sheriff John Breaker (Neal McDonough) and his loyal wise-cracking deputy Bugle (Gregory Cruz) are keeping their small town cleaned up. In comes Federal Marshall Cal Breaker (Steven R. McQueen), John’s son, with a mission, looking to team up and hunt down “The Saint” (Casper Van Dien), a ruthless gang leader running raids in the territory that’s threatening to upend all hope for reconstruction. Thing is, John and The Saint have history, “brothers” during the war that have a troubling past that forever links them.
Directed by Brent Christy, The Warrant is a decidedly small project, filmed in the woods with a sturdy cast, that aims high in trying to capture a kind of horseback thriller with a twist of comedy but can’t step out of the shadow of far too many that it draws inspiration from. The Saint, which is a name I’ve already gotten tired of typing, is the head of a paint-by-numbers gaggle of misfits and hooligans that check all the boxes for such, including a bruiser, a sniper, a gunslinger, a musician, and of course, a beautiful but sassy young woman who can hold her own (you can guess her fate in all this a mile away). They are stealing supplies that are meant to help those trying to recover from war, causing the law to come a hunting.
The film is led by McDonough, who deserves a starring role, and does well as a colorful local lawman pulled back into his past. It’s a fairly rote character but at least McDonough gives it a little bite. Van Dien is meaty as his counter, chewing up what he can with all kinds of snarl and snare, but the story and script are too generic to really have the punch it needs, the severely limited budget and small scale ultimately draining the production of any weight.
That story skips around from “battles” in the war to the “present” day where the two men, who were once comrades in arms, are now enemies, the flashbacks looking to give shape to the struggles that bind them. Thing is, these battles are nothing more than a handful of men running about the trees with no sense of attachment to the larger conflict and the incident that defines their relationship hollow on impact since we know nothing about the people it really involves.
There are good ideas here and a crew of many actors (not all), who are deeply committed to the project, like the talented Annabeth Gish, who plays John’s wife, stuck in a relatively thankless role that she can’t help but make memorable even with her limited screen time. The real problem is how it’s all delivered, such as how more time is spent introducing The Saint’s deadly gang than time is given to their exploits. We barely see them again. There is set up to what should be emotional sways but the film has no energy or investment in its own characters to matter. Package that with a bland, uninspired electronic score, and this is an opportunity lost. Not as bad as many that dabble in this genre, but disappointing nonetheless.