An orphaned boy of 13 left to fend for himself and his younger brother in 1880s Wyoming is sentenced to hang for the accidental murder of a local rancher. His estranged grandfather breaks him out of jail and they go on the run to Mexico.
What We Thought:
Rust is the movie that Alec Baldwin killed a crew member while filming. After watching it, it will only be known for that and nothing else.
I grew up on Westerns. My favorite film, Tombstone, is a Western. Rust being a Western is a strong selling point to me. It has a classic Western story of a long lost grandfather saving his grandson from a hanging and heading to Mexico to get him away from the law. Add in a solid supporting cast of Travis Fimmel (Vikings), Frances Fisher, Abraham Benrubi, Jake Busey, Xander Berkeley and more and it’s a film I should enjoy. Unfortunately it falls flat for me.
The biggest issue is actually Alec Baldwin and it has nothing to do with what he did while filming. I’m not a huge fan of his personal life, but I think Baldwin is a solid actor who’s done some very good work, but he didn’t fit here. He doesn’t look like a 1800s gunslinger. Even with the grey beard, he still looks like Alec Baldwin. At no point did I see “cowboy”, I only saw the New Yorker type that he normally portrays. When you think of Westerns you think of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, not Jack Donaghy. His character is originally from Chicago, but he’s supposed to be the type that killed a lot of men and had a hard life.
That’s a shame too because it does have a good Western aesthetic and story. Westerns have a certain photographic style with wide shots and movement and Rust does that. The story is definitely one that fits the genre as well. Fimmel plays a bounty hunter/preacher type and the supporting cast (especially the young actor playing the grandson) are all good. I wish Baldwin’s character was played by someone else because I found him a bit too distracting for the role. I only saw Alec Baldwin not the character and when the bulk of the movie is the grandfather and grandson on the lamb, that’s a problem for me. Unfortunately Rust will go down as more infamous than beloved. It had potential to be good, but it needed a different lead.
The Nerds Templar 