Pierce Brosnan and Samuel L. Jackson share the screen in a new Western, but the response to the film is very different among audiences and critics. Both Brosnan and Jackson aren’t strangers to the Western genre. Brosnan may be best known for playing James Bond across four films from 1995 to 2002, but he made his Old West debut in Grey Owl in 1999. He made a bigger splash starring opposite Liam Neeson in the underrated Seraphim Falls in 2006.
Jackson, on the other hand, is arguably more well-known for his Western films than Brosnan is. Jackson collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on Django Unchained in 2012, which was a critical and commercial hit. He later reunited with the legendary filmmaker for The Hateful Eight in 2015, in which he occupied more of a traditional gunslinging role. Now, Jackson has returned to the Western once more, starring opposite Brosnan in an action-packed take on the genre.
Audiences & Critics Disagree About The Unholy Trinity On Rotten Tomatoes
The Brosnan & Jackson Western Is Off To A Mixed Start
The Unholy Trinity‘s Rotten Tomatoes scores are vastly different critics and audiences. Directed by Richard Gray, the new Western features Brosnan as Gabriel Dove, a Sheriff attempting to maintain law and order after a young man rides into town to reclaim his legacy. Jackson stars in the film as St. Christopher, a mysterious and chaotic outsider, with Brandon Lessard appearing as Henry Broadway, and David Arquette as Father Jacob. After premiering last October at the Zurich Film Festival, The Unholy Trinity released in the U.S. on June 13.
With audiences now getting a chance to watch The Unholy Trinity, the film has debuted with a modest 66% Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes from over 100 viewer ratings. This audience-driven score is in stark contrast to the critics’ score, which sits at a dismal 18% from 17 reviews, as of writing. Though these two scores could continue to fluctuate as more reviews are added, the large divide suggests critics and audiences aren’t seeing eye-to-eye on this Western.
The Unholy Trinity has fared better on Metacritic with a critics’ score of 43 out of 100, but this is based on only five reviews, as of writing.
What This Means For The Unholy Trinity
The Critical Response Explained
An 18% critics’ score suggests very few critics see The Unholy Trinity as a success. Reviews, generally speaking, highlight that the film, despite some impressive action set pieces, struggles to set itself apart from the decades’ worth of better entries in the genre. In his The Unholy Trinity review for ScreenRant, Nick Bythrow awarded the film a mixed score of five out of 10, praising the lead performances from Brosnan and Jackson and the fun they bring to the story, but criticizing the handling of the story itself:
At some point, it even feels like the movie stops being intrigued by the story it’s telling. One event late into the story feels like it should carry a heavier weight than it does, but everyone ignores how major a travesty it is for some characters. The movie makes a point to always carry on to the next idea in its story, and, by the end, becomes too engrossed in its generic aspects to commit to what makes it stand out.
Save for a few standouts, Westerns have struggled to make much of a mark in the modern theatrical landscape. The poor response to The Unholy Trinity suggests that this film won’t be bucking that trend, and its limited release certainly won’t help in that regard. Still, the audience response suggests that The Unholy Trinity could end up enjoying a more successful second life on VOD or streaming in the months to come.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
