‘Butcher’s Crossing’ Review – Nicolas Cage Is At Home In The Wild West

Man versus nature is a popular trope explored across many genres, mainly present in the Western. Man in the elements, fueled by avarice and surviving by wits, is the story at play in Butcher’s Crossing. Derivate throughout but benefited by a wild but never over-the-top performance by Nicolas Cage, Butcher’s Crossing is a look at how the West was won. This film is a story about the gluttony of the era, along with the irresistible temptation of discovery.

In media res: Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger) is leaving the safety nest of Harvard and heading West to discover himself. Once settled, he hitches horses with a frontiersman named Miller (Cage) to hunt buffalo. The quest becomes a razor-sharp journey that will push all the men to the brink of sanity. The film is a mixed bag of trail mix that ultimately strives to strip back the myth of the Wild West. 

Cage fans will delight in this film, if just for his performance alone. The actor has recently seen a resurgence, with critically acclaimed roles such as Pig and Sympathy for The Devil. In this film, Cage is more restrained, but that does not diminish the captivating nature of his performance. The film is at its best when Cage is center stage.

Miller is borderline psychotic. Cage accomplishes a lot with nothing more than a snarl of his teeth and a twinkle of the eye. From his pipe to his shaved head, Miller is iconic and complete with a dusty jacket and cowboy swagger. The performance is sublime, leaving the audience wanting to know more about his past and hoping to see the character again. It is subtly abrasive and wide-eyed when it needs to be. 

Cage’s Miller plays a perfect foil against Will, who enters the story as a fish out of water. Their first meeting recalls the scene in Jaws where Quint berates Hooper for his clean city hand, as opposed to those of a working man. A compelling narrative runs throughout the story vis a vis Will and Miller. This story breaks an optimistic man into a complicated and aged one. Their introduction is almost like the two characters looking into each other’s past and future. 

Other characters even comment on Will’s naiveté. Francine, a barmaid and harlot (Rachel Keller), alludes to him being soft and clean, unlike the other men in town. A bit of foreshadowing is no surprise. Will enters as a bright-eyed optimist and returns as a hardened frontiersman. 

While the performances are strong, at times, the pacing drags. It never derails the movie, but less familiar beats and unexpected angles would have served the story well. Butcher’s Crossing stems from the book of the same name by John Edwards Williams, and it would be interesting to see how much of the film was a direct translation. The film does have an idea where it is going, and while it detours a few times, it is less about the plot and more about the journey. 

Ultimately, the movie reaches its climax when the buffalo hunting party becomes snowed in. Here, the pace picks up, and the characters engage in a battle of wits. They face not only surviving the elements but surviving each other. One of the hide-skinners, Fred (Jeremy Bobb), is an instigator who proves as much a villain as a man of tragic circumstance. Greed becomes the fuel propelling all men by the end. One buffalo is never enough. 

At times, Butcher’s Crossing is too cute by half. It wants to a profound commentary on the Old West but too often finds itself on a familiar train that has been trodden before in more effective manners. Those expecting a new tale of old might be disappointed, but for the performance by Cage, this is still one to see. In its finest moments, the film tries to explore the soul of the men in these times and does its best to explore the craze of Westward expansion and the dream (some might say diluted) of the Wild West.

Butcher’s Crossing is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Saban Films. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkmtH20Laeg]