These are the roles of the Wesley Snipes I know and love. Granted he's been through the ringer over his taxes and spent 3 years behind bars over them, he still turns in great performances. It was this last role that has given me pause: that of Aman, the main character from the direct-to-DVD movie Gallowwalkers. It's a horror-Western, so bear with me.
The reasonable facsimile of the American West setting is played by the Namib Desert, found in the southwestern African country of Namibia. It is a very beautiful place, and is part of a country that has no extradition treaty with the United States (which is good so Mr. Snipes can make a movie without federal agents arresting him on site). That said, our story focuses not on taxes, but on a blood debt to be collected by butcher-turned-bounty hunter Aman (Snipes). He hunts the Gallowwalkers: a group of people he once killed in a rage of revenge for the rape of Sueno (Alyssa Pridham), the woman he loved. They have since come back and now wreak havoc on the world, which means one thing, true believers: Aman has to kill them. Again.
WESLEY SNIPES WINS FATALITY |
Knowing the they're being hunted by a guy who can do that doesn't stop the other Gallowwalkers from running about and causing trouble. Enter the rest of the gang: Skullbucket (ex-wrestler Diamond Dallas Page), Kisscut (the wide-jawed Simona Brhlikova), and the others led by Kansa (Kevin Howarth). They have distorted the ideas of law and justice to their own ends, and have marshal Gaza (Patrick Bergin) and his deputies under their thumb to provide access to fresh bodies. It's where we meet the kid Fabulos (Riley Smith) and the whore Angel (the very lovely Tanit Phoenix) about to be sacrificed when they are freed by Aman. Only Fabulos escapes to partner with Aman in his quest for revenge, while Angel remains captured and will be a sacrifice to resurrect Kansa's dead son (also murdered by Aman). Not content to suffer Kansa and his crew, Aman and Fabulos fight them to the last and save Angel. There isn't much after that, as the director Andrew Goth goes for a Kurosawa-style western ending.
"Well, I suppose I have a little while before the shoot is over and I have to go back to America and face trial..." |
I truly wish this were a better movie and that it hadn't been delayed for 5 years, because then I wouldn't have to wait for Expendables 3 to come out to see Wesley Snipes in a mainstream movie.