The Sisters Brothers is a dusty and beautiful western but with fewer cliches
Part road movie, part traditional western but mostly a story of not being able to choose your family
ELI (John C Reilly) and Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) are The Sisters Brothers, a pair of cowboy hitmen sent to kill Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) who has developed a chemical that makes gold prospecting an absolute doddle and game changer.
He’s already being targeted by private detective John Morris (Jake Gylenhaal) so a chase is on.
Part road movie, part traditional western but mostly a story of not being able to choose your family, this fleshes out the popular Patrick deWitt book efficiently. The ensemble cast is just about as good as it gets, so revel in seeing them all on screen together - in particular the paring of Reilly (who bought the rights to the book) and Phoenix (a treat seeing him in such a mainstream film).
Eli’s reluctant and regretful killer vs his brother’s drunken carelessness offer us the emotional hook - which whilst never really realising it’s full potential (the ending is areal damp squib), does enough to keep you interested.
A more thoughtful Western than we’re used to - still looking dusty and beautiful, but with fewer cliches and not much real resolution, which won’t be to everyone’s taste - but I enjoyed my time with it.