anchor-9 What? You know that something went wrong in marketing a movie if it has 3 titles on an internet search. The Mountie, the Lawman, Way of the West. Perhaps the first is the best.. but there goes any chance of a US audience. Maybe it would have been better to keep that title and market it with subtitles to a world audience. Comments from others indicate they were expecting an American Western which it is not. Some can't get the mix of cultures. Well, the film is set shortly after Alaska was acquired from Russia; and guess what- the land was sparsely populated. FYI Yukon almost 150 years on still has a total population under 40,000 in a land area approaching that of Texas.Awful poetry read by a child? Well, the words are those of Robert Service, the unofficial poet of historical Yukon. If I had expected a "Western" I would have been disappointed. But thankfully I had a review from The Toronto Globe and Mail appear thanks to Google which was intriguing. Google it under "The Mountie". Looking for an "operatic" theme movie more in the tradition of Quebec cinema. This is it.

rrcharpe This incredibly good and very entertaining movie has three titles: Lawman, The Way of the West and The Mountie. What the heck ever its called its the best thing to come out o Canada in many a year. Straight forward but without sentimentality it tells the story of Western Canada in its lawless years when the British Columbian province was full of Russians, who brought their Cossack mentality with them. The brutality shown in the film is appropriate to the situation that the people find themselves in. I have read most or all of the reviews on this film and I feel there is a prejudice against Canadian film-makers by Americans who perhaps were looking for more of a Clint Eastwood take on this story, but this is the wilds of Western Canada in the late 1800s or perhaps early 1900s, I don't think it is mentioned. The man playing the Mountie is excellent and the woman with the scar is a great actress who says a lot just with her eyes. The casting in this movie was fantastic. If you want a great movie to watch this is the one. I don't work for anyone associated with this movie and I live in California and am a Nam vet so I have seen violence. I recommend this movie above almost any other Canadian movie I have seen. StocktonRob

imfinished The first thing you have to know is that the summary for this is not only poorly written, but also fairly inaccurate. It doesn't really matter, however, as the summary only vaguely sets up the fact that there's a Mountie (obvious) and he has to fight some bad guys (also obvious). So the fact that the summary still manages to be so inaccurate is kind of baffling. As for the movie: It's a pretty good looking film almost by default because of the beautiful barren landscape where it takes place. The tone here is melodrama all the way and its effect is intensified by the wooden performance of the lead. He delivers every line with the same tone and appears to be the proud owner of a single grim expression. The rest of the cast aspires to broad clichés, to match the stilted dialogue. None of them bother to generate any chemistry as the effort probably seemed pointless for a film made of such tired beats and scenes.There are many poor choices here. We've got villains who seem to think every act of violence they commit is worth a mean chuckle. A woman who is shot in the chest, so at the end you see she now has to walk with a crutch. A child doing several mind numbing recitals of Robert Service. Basically, this is an uninspired and unambitious film that doesn't even succeed at what it attempts. Quite disappointing.

Robert W. If you took The Mountie and added director Sergio Leone, made the Mountie a Texas Ranger or the like played by Clint Eastwood (instead of a Canadian doing his best Eastwood impression), added in Lee Marvin just cuz and you would have had a kick butt 1960's spaghetti western. Instead The Mountie was slapped together on what was certainly a shoe string budget, and made uniquely Canadian. That term kills more than one Canadian movie or Television show. The trailers make the film look like a Canadian Unforgiven about a Mountie out for vengeance and justice but they don't add in the fact that the film attempts some remnant of drama with the action and it just doesn't work. The film feels forced and silly, however historically accurate it might be the addition of the Russian characters seems almost ridiculous. Given the shoe string budget some of the action scenes are brutal and well made and the setting and cinematography work very well. However, and whether or not this was an issue with the theatre I saw it in or not the film is very dark, poorly lit and the sound effects on the weapons was horrible. It just sounded poorly shot.I'm sure I have seen star Andrew Walker in other things but I can't place him if I have. He has a varied resume. He isn't bad in the film and he carries it well but the problem is that he spends the entire film channelling some low budget version of Clint Eastwood. I would rather have seen him do his own thing rather than copy a cowboy. Jessica Paré is the woman with the scar and a lot of baggage that unfolds throughout the film. Her story is interesting, her performance is not. She has a deer in the headlights look through the whole thing and has very little chemistry with Walker or anyone else in the film unfortunately. Her character is a means to an end. George Buza is a virtual whose who of Canadian talent. He's been in some of the best cult classic shows and films of the last three decades. (I can't believe he was Turner Edison from Maniac Mansion for those of you that remember.) He does a decent job as the lead villain in the film although it comes across as a little campy which works for the whole western rip off angle. In her first role Kestrel Martin might steal the whole show as the little girl who becomes enamoured with the Mountie and he takes her under his wing. The mute girl is practically the best character in the film and the only one you will feel connected too. I don't mean to downplay the supporting actors but they are mostly fodder for the Mountie and they don't stand out on their own.Apparently director and co-writer Wyeth Clarkson is a respected Canadian film maker. This is the first I have seen of his and heard of him. Clearly he loves westerns even if he denied it. I see his heart and passion and where he wanted to go with this...but in cinema its not the thought that counts. It just felt like an enormous part of what should have been in place in the film was missing. You can't even refer to this as uniquely Canadian although it was filmed in the Yukon but outside of that nothing makes it different from the aforementioned Western. Unless you're really a sucker for indie films there isn't any reason to see this. I've taken the bullet for you and while I wasn't disgusted with it, I would never go out of my way to see it again. 6/10