“Red Hill” Movie Trailer Review

“Red Hill”

Movie Trailer Review

By our guest blogger, Joel Crabtree

After struggling for decades, the Western genre has been reborn from a burst of Western movies in the mid to late 2000s (“Appaloosa,” “3:10 to Yuma,” etc.) and the genre's infusion into Asian cinema. It took several unsuccessful attempts to revive the genre (“Tombstone” and “Wyatt Earp” anybody?), but now it's something that audiences can get excited over once again.

One such modern Western to get excited for is “Red Hill,” the debut feature film from Australian director Patrick Hughes.

“Red Hill” stars Ryan Kwanten as Shane Cooper, a police officer on his first day of duty in a small town of Red Hill. After being shot on duty, Cooper is looking to live out a peaceful life with his wife – unfortunately, it's just not in the cards for him.

Enter Jimmy Conway (Tommy Lewis), a convicted murderer who has just sprung out of prison and is looking to unleash Hell on Red Hill for revenge, turning Cooper's first day of quiet living into a struggle to survive alongside a veteran lawman named Old Bill (Steve Bisley). Conway's motives and Cooper's history aren't made exactly clear in the trailer, but they may very well be the source of a few surprises in “Red Hill.”

The key to modern Westerns is striking a balance between embracing expectations of the genre and making it your own. Hughes seems to find that with “Red Hill,” creating a present-day world where people still ride on horseback and sheriffs have names like Old Bill.

The trailer also gives a heightened sense of tension, hints of some pretty bad-ass gun play and beautiful Australian landscapes. Add to that that Ryan Kwanten is on the brink of super-stardom, and “Red Hill” might just get a serious push in American theaters.

“Red Hill” is in theaters Nov. 5, 2010. Below is the trailer.  What are your thoughts?