By Geno McGahee
Lionsgate has just released DESPERATE RIDERS, a western with some interesting twists and turns at the end. I’m not a huge fan of the western genre, but this film brings some mystery and consistency that I enjoyed.
The villain, Thorn (Trace Adkins), an outlaw, is the main draw of this story, as Billy asks for the assistance from Kansas Red to make things right for his family. They team up with Leslie and the trio take on Thorn and try to take down him and his team of bandits. This was pretty well done and the action is consistent enough to keep the viewer interested.
The film follows most westerns with good guys versus bad guys, heroes versus outlaws. This is a paint by numbers sort of film, but it’s done pretty well. It won’t go down in history as a classic western but it’s a good effort and the fact that there are some surprises thrown in at the end made it really enjoyable.
DESPERATE RIDERS is a decent film. It is not perfect and drags here and there, but overall, I found it enjoyable. I recommend it.
