Angel and the Badman Review: A Bland Western Remake

composition: A wounded outlaw finds unexpected mercy in the care of a rancher’s daughter. The hope of love pulls him into another life, until the law and his violent past come closer to his new home. Now he must choose what kind of person he will become.

examine: This is a remake of the 1947 classic film starring John Wayne. Angel and the Badman It follows a wounded outlaw named Quirt as he runs away. He attracts attention from his former gang, but is lucky to be looked after by a woman named Penny. Quirt’s presence puts Penny and her family in danger and they must work to make things right. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Wayne movie, so this was my first time hearing this story, and it felt pretty standard for a Western. Almost 80 years have passed since its release and filmmaking has changed, so I’m sure many of my complaints about the story could apply to that film as well.

Accents can be a bit all over the place, and each new character has varying degrees of success. It always stands out more when someone acts opposite Tommy Lee Jones. Because Tommy Lee Jones always looks natural. As expected, Jones is the best part of the film as his presence always brings a sense of reality. Few things fit better than Jones and the Western environment. Levi is decent enough at times, even if his “sleep tantrums” – shouting out random words while recovering from an injury – can be a bit unintentionally funny. However, his babbling sounds are very unnatural and can be a bit distracting.

Angel Studios began to become known for movies that saw the good in people and taught moral lessons. The good guys win, the bad guys lose, and the world becomes a better place. There isn’t much room for anything morally gray. Because of this, almost every scene feels contrived as there is little interest in the interesting story beats.

The filmmakers did a great job establishing Neil McDonough’s Laredo as a force to be reckoned with, killing everyone and burning down a brothel just because they discovered his real name. However, other than his introduction, his decision-making leaves much to be desired. There’s also a throughline that Laredo is on death’s doorstep. However, he seems perfectly fine, except when he actually reveals it to show his tuberculosis. This wouldn’t be a problem, except that we, as the audience, see a perfectly normal cowboy while literally everyone he meets tells him how deathly he looks.

Filmmakers have no idea how to present the Western landscape in a visually appealing way. It mostly just exists and isn’t brought to life like it is in other movies. Color palettes often become washed out and boring. I’ve definitely seen western-themed TV episodes that put these videos to shame. It doesn’t help that the fights feel cheap, overly staged, and over too quickly.

I also have to admit the very disgusting “Pay it Forward” strategy used by Angel Studios. This requires people to pay for other people’s tickets. In this film, Neil McDonough pops out of the screen and asks the audience to scan a QR code. It is just a means to inflate box office success, and is a practice that desperately needs to be eliminated. The fact that it involves actors essentially begging for money really ends things poorly.

At this point, I think most people know what they want from Angel Studios and there’s definitely a market for it. But other than the church crowd or those who really love Westerns, there isn’t much to grab onto here. The characters are very bland, and the story is lacking compared to modern times. Angel and the Badman Maybe I should have stayed in the past.

Angel and the Badman It is showing in theaters in October 9, 2026.

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