The Weekend Western: Blueberry
A French western very loosely based on Jean ‘Moebius’ Giraud’s classic comic character, with Vincent Cassel in the titular role, that fails to work as a traditional western or much else either. The story is slim - Mike Blueberry’s prostitute girlfriend is killed in a confrontation with head villain (Michael Madsen) injured he makes his way into the desert, stays with the Indians for a bit and then becomes a Marshal of a small town before inevitably crossing paths with Madsen again for the films denouement.
This simple story isn’t a problem in itself, many a classic western has had an equally minimal plot, the real problem is that not much happens, with the film avoiding the usual genre staples like shootouts and fistfights. What the film does have going for it, at least early on before it devolves into a mess of hallucinogenic CGI for the typically unorthodox final confrontation between Blueberry and Madsen, is some awe inspiring cinematography. The West here looks as majestic as a Ford movie, the difference being Ford could hang a story on those visuals.
As well as Cassel and Madsen the film also features Juliette Lewis as a love interest for Cassel, with her dad Geoffrey Lewis appropriately enough playing her father. Colm Meaney, sporting a fake looking beard and equally fake accent, and a wheelchair bound Ernest Borgnine play deputies, while Eddie Izzard turns up as a German searching for Indian treasure and gives Meaney a run for his money in the crap accent competition. You’d think Cassal would be in the running too but given that he’s supposed to be a Louisiana Cajun he doesn’t do too bad, even if he never totally convinces.
If the film had stuck closer to the source material it would have made a better and more coherent film but it would have been a more traditional western and that obviously wasn’t what the filmmakers were trying to achieve. Just what they were trying to achieve though is something of a mystery.
