Purgatory

In recent years the westerns that have been made have stepped up a notch to compete with a more sophisticated audience who look for more action and more substance in the stories they watch. This has caused the filmmakers to examine different ways in telling these tales in a more inventive and imaginative fashion. All of the lead roles are filled with very accomplished actors who portray their characters in quite believable depictions of these truly well known western outlaws. Setting the tale in a realm that is in both reality and Purgatory we're given an observation that some of these outlaws had redeeming qualities, that given the chance they could have possibly turned their lives around.
After a bank robbery goes wrong a band of outlaws end up in a small town called Refuge, and find that it is inhabited by people that are extremely peaceful, strikingly familiar and is some where between Heaven and Hell. With strong acting from Sam Shepard and Eric Roberts the rest of the cast follows right along and give performances that stand out on their own. The set design and props used here are very good, once you're in the world of this story nothing looks out of place. The towns themselves look like they are authentic old west townships, with the occasional dust storm blowing through every now and then. There is one thing that is done in this film and at times is completely ignored in others and that's the ammunition. The guns that are used in the story actually run out of bullets, there are multiple times that you see the characters search out cartridges and having to reload their guns. This is a breath of fresh air, to actually see a character fire a six shooter and only six shots and then have to scramble to find more is a nice dose of reality in a fanciful tale.
Not to take anything away from the older westerns but they were written and filmed in a different time therefore they catered to a different kind of audience. This is one of those old-fashioned shoot-'em-up kind of movies and with the added step into the Twilight Zone your given a fun and enjoyable ride that you'll not soon forget. This film was originally produced and filmed for the cable channel TNT, yet with the effort that is put into the movie, from the script to the acting to the editing, this could have been easily released in the theater and been successful. Wouldn't it be nice to know that there might be a place for a chance for redemption, not so much as to absolve your sins but to at least make amends for the wrongs that you committed?