Nicolas Cage stars in a slow, ponderous adaptation of the Western novel Butcher's Crossing

click to enlarge Nicolas Cage stars in a slow, ponderous adaptation of the Western novel Butcher's Crossing
Even an uncaged Cage can't fully elevate Butcher's Crossing.

Earlier this year, Nicolas Cage starred in The Old Way, a meat-and-potatoes Western with a simple plot about a man seeking revenge for the murder of his wife. It's basic and predictable, distinguished only by a typically committed performance from Cage and a surprisingly evenly matched performance from his young co-star Ryan Kiera Armstrong.

Cage's new Western, Butcher's Crossing, has higher artistic ambitions than The Old Way, but director and co-writer Gabe Polsky never quite realizes those lofty goals. Instead, Butcher's Crossing is most successful when it resembles The Old Way, in tense sequences that allow Cage to dig into his character's fractured psyche.

Cage's dedicated buffalo hunter Miller isn't really the movie's protagonist — that's Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger), a naive Harvard student and minister's son who decides that he needs to find meaning in his life by heading to the Western frontier. He arrives in the small Kansas town of Butcher's Crossing in 1874, intending to seek work from J.D. McDonald (Paul Raci), an old family acquaintance. When McDonald fails to offer him the rugged experience he desires, he instead connects with Miller, who's putting together an expedition to a supposed hidden Colorado valley full of bison who are prime for hunting.

It sounds like a fool's errand, but Will is just the fool for the job, and he offers Miller every penny he has to finance the outing. They're joined by Miller's longtime camp manager Charley Hoge (Xander Berkeley), a grizzled drunk who clings to his Bible, and expert skinner Fred Schneider (Jeremy Bobb), an unsavory type who insists on being paid upfront. The journey is fairly straightforward, and Miller turns out to be as good as his word, leading the group to a herd of buffalo who've been untouched by the rampant hunting of recent years.

Based on the 1960 novel by John Williams, Butcher's Crossing is more contemplative than thrilling, even with an extra element of menace between the characters added for the movie. Once they arrive at the hunting ground, Miller becomes increasingly fixated on annihilating the entire massive herd, even though it would be impossible for the group to carry that many hides back to Kansas to sell. The cycle of killing and skinning the buffalo, and eating their meat every day, takes a toll on everyone in the crew, and they all become slightly unhinged over time.

Will serves as the Ishmael to Miller's Captain Ahab, alternately enabling and tempering his obsession with destroying every last buffalo. With a bald head and a thick black beard, Cage makes for a striking figure, and he can give Miller a sense of sinister danger just in the way he chews on a piece of meat. As the immature, untested big screen newcomer, Hechinger is a bit outmatched, especially with Bobb and Berkeley capturing a more compelling mix of anguish and anger in their respective characters.

There isn't much psychological depth to Will's journey, making the melancholy ending feel more like an anticlimax rather than a somber reflection. Rachel Keller is stuck in the thankless part of the Butcher's Crossing prostitute who symbolizes Will's ideals of love and purity, a throwback to outdated gender portrayals of vintage Westerns.

Polsky is best known for directing sports documentaries like 2014's Red Army, and he awkwardly leans into the movie's environmental message with closing title cards about the near-extinction of the buffalo thanks to aggressive hunting. While Polsky delivers some gorgeous vistas of the Montana shooting locations, he can't translate Williams' story into equally powerful drama. He aims for something ethereal and meaningful, but probably should have just embraced the potential for propulsive pulp thrills. ♦

Two Stars BUTCHER'S CROSSING
Rated R
Directed by Gabe Polsky
Starring Starring Nicolas Cage, Fred Hechinger, Jeremy Bobb
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Josh Bell

Josh Bell is a freelance writer and movie/TV critic based in Las Vegas. He has written about movies, TV, and pop culture for Vulture, IndieWire, Tom’s Guide, Inverse, Crooked Marquee, and more. He's been writing about film and television for the Inlander since 2018. With comedian Jason Harris, he co-hosts the...