It’s a tall order to create a film solely based on the affection of ones that came before it. Magic can’t be recaptured, and the legendary statuses of those films make it almost impossible to pay adequate homage while introducing something fresh and new to the chemistry. No matter how earnest and diligent the production seems, it will always have a double-edged uphill battle of living up to its predecessors and being worthy of its own merit. Action/martial arts superstar and first-time director Michael Jai White approaches his Outlaw Johnny Black with an overflowing respect for the films that inspired it. With nods to comic titan Blazing Saddles and the early ‘70s spaghetti western My Name is Nobody, White’s western wants to mix broad comedy infused with urban coolness and dramatic undertones. Outlaw Johnny Black wraps into a potluck gumbo with so many ingredients that you have no idea what you are meant to taste. It’s a lot, and, unfortunately, not enough.
White plays title character Johnny Black, a man with no name figure who has a name and a past. Johnny is the son of charismatic preacher man Bullseye Black (an always fun to see Glynn Turman). One fateful day, Bullseye, along with Johnny’s mother, are slain by nefarious gunslinger Brett Clayton (Chris Browning). Of course, Johnny grows to be a bad man with a good heart, living for the sole purpose of avenging his father by exacting revenge on Clayton.
Along the way, Johnny befriends Reverend Percival (Black Dynamite alumni Byron Minns), an ex-boxer preacher man traveling to a small mining town to meet the pen pal love of his life. After a bit of elongated hi-jinks, the film settles into the small mining town which a calculating oil barren (Barry Bostwick) is plotting to ransack with his band of hired guns—including Johnny’s nemesis Clayton. While sticking around to help save the town, Johnny Black falls for the town’s de facto leader, Jessie Lee (Anika Noni Rose, again proving that she makes any movie she’s in better). The film features cameos and small bits from a sporadic list of character actor personalities including Tommy Davidson, Michael Coylar, Russell Peters, Gary Anthony Williams, Kym Whitley, Randy Couture, Martin Kove and Paul Rodriguez along with further surprise cameos that should warm the hearts of film lovers who’ve had some of their action flick and B-movie superstars pass over the recent years. (One such cameo is Jim Brown.)
Unfortunately, Outlaw Johnny Black stutters with tonal changes during the first third of the film. Some moments are played with such high drama that the shift to slapstick comedy feels out of place. Add to that White’s characterization of Johnny Black is in the tune of his successful Black Dynamite persona, which completely pulls you out of dramatic situations and haphazardly reminds you this is a comedy. The film does find its groove once all the characters are settled into the mining town, but the pace and elongated road to get everyone there dampens its spirit. Outlaw Johnny Black works best in close quarters, allowing the schtick to play out more rapidly where the swings and misses at broad comedy have less time to echo from their thud. At over two hours, the film wears out its welcome, and you realize that the real villain is the editor.
There is a decent movie within the sprawl of Outlaw Johnny Black, but it fails to catch the previously bottled lightning of its spiritual predecessors, including Black Dynamite. But it’s not too far off. You may get an inkling to revisit the films that inspired it. But you ‘ll be hard pressed to take this particular ride again.
Photo courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films
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