Slow West

Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee, left) & Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender, right)

Slow West is not a great movie, kind of slow, and the main character is a bit of a dolt. He's a kid, so that's to be expected, but it makes you wonder how he managed to survive long enough to make it into this movie. The movie is set in the American West in 1870. Jay is in pursuit of his girlfriend. She and her father are wanted for the murder of a Scottish lord, which is why they fled to America, never mind that it was an accident, they were peons and as such, they were supposed to stand there and take what's coming to them, which is whatever his lordship decides (the lord is dead, long live the lord).
    So anyway there is a price on their heads, which makes me wonder a bunch of stuff. Like was that even legal, offering a bounty in another country? And how would you collect the reward? Who would you collect it from? And what were the odds you would be able to find the guy who is supposed to pay? And how would you prove they were dead? i.e. how would you prove that the two dead bodies you have are the right ones? If you are dealing with American outlaws, they would be known to people and someone would recognize them. But furriners, pretending to be somebody else? That's a different kettle of fish.
    There are a bunch of good / cool / interesting things in this movie, some of which seldom show up in Westerns. But they are kind of like a pile of bricks. Each one is a solid thing, and they are kind of laid out in a line, but the story is weak and it is not really enough to pull it all together.