The Rider (2018)
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The Rider Movie Review
The Rider is a 2018 indie western drama film directed by Chloe Zhao and starring Brady Jandreau. It’s a very overrated, disappointing movie.
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“If any animal around here got hurt like I did,
they’d have to be put down“
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Looking at the poster and seeing a man and his horse, I expected a very nice tale of human-animal friendship. I did not get that at all. Seeing all of the critics boast of it, I expected a great gem of a movie. I did not get that either. What I did get was a very boring indie drama with western elements about a man trying to quit rodeo after an accident leaves him incapable of continuing that profession.
Now, of course this story had a lot of potential and it is an important tale thematically speaking and the film does have its touching scenes for sure. I also really liked the film’s very sweet, careful portrayal of an autistic person as his sister Lilly is one of the film’s most likable characters. But the protagonist remains an entirely dull, forgettable presence.
I respect the movie for taking non-professional actors and although they definitely did a solid job having in mind they are not real actors, I still did not find any of the performances really impressive. Brady Jandreau is fine, but far from great. More professional actors would have made this movie better, but then again the script and lack of dialogue would even then prove to be a big hurdle.
The Rider features a strong ending, that’s for sure. I also really liked its cinematography with very well utilized badlands locations and some particularly memorable scenes when it comes to their imagery. The movie has its moments and emotionally and thematically speaking it’s pretty good, but I expected more.
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Yes, it’s a brave thing that they tried a less inspirational approach this time around at telling what otherwise could have been a clichéd movie, but this new subdued approach also simply did not work as it’s overly subtle and thus not as truly moving or as truly dramatic and effective as it should have been. The lack of dialogue and the problematic direction from Chloe Zhao also did not help.
The filmmakers wanted to go a different route with The Rider by avoiding the inspirational, clichéd trappings that this story could have fallen into, but I still did not like the other extreme they went into as the movie ended up being way too subdued, subtle and simply too slow with the lack of dialogue bothering me the most. It has its moving scenes and memorable shots, but it’s mostly a slugfest to sit through and it’s just not effective at what it’s trying to do.
