Broken Horses (2015)

Let's be realistic.

From my favorite movies..

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

What actual makes me laugh when I read the reviews on IMDb is that most of the time movies with mediocre reviews are to me the best ones and movies with outstanding reviews I find them almost unwatchable. I don't know if it's me or if it is just the posh people that like movies from Lars Von Trier and David Lynch that review the most movies but I question myself if I have bad taste or what? I thought Broken Horses was a really good movie, with enough suspense to keep you interested during the whole movie. Unlike boring movies from Von Trier and Lynch where the story sucks big time and you kind of wish the movie ends as soon as possible. With this one I didn't get bored a second. Chris Marquette plays the mildly retarded brother brilliantly. I couldn't fail any of the actors actually. They were all good. The filming is also good and the story is also good. Everything about this movie is just good. Why it only gets such a low score on here is a mystery to me.

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)Rating: 2.8/5 starsTo the Hindi film audience in India, "Broken Horses" comes across as nothing more than a 2015 reworking of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's seminal 1989 crime saga, "Parinda". The similarities between the two films are so prevalent and irrefutable - motifs, characters, the plot, even scenes - that to a person who has watched "Parinda", "Broken Horses" feels like that film with a different cast, and therein lies the biggest glitch with the veteran filmmaker's Hollywood debut. Chopra's "Parinda" has basically returned 25 years later on-screen as Chopra's "Broken Horses", with Mexico's dust bowls replacing Mumbai's mean streets, a ranch on a lake replacing a crucial boat, two brothers joined by love and circumstances now also tied by a slight mental disability, and a lot less blood and a lot more conscious style. As for a person who hasn't watched "Parinda" - and most of Chopra's Hollywood audience would fall in that category - this film feels rocky, with certain parts of the story not quite adding up. What could have been acceptable in a 1989 Mumbai, is not quite so on the 2015 Mexico border.So while Chopra's "Parinda" was a pathbreaker in 1989, giving the first gritty portrayal of the underworld in Bollywood, his first Hollywood venture won't make any waves on those well-trodden shores. Particularly as "Parinda" itself drew comparisons with a classic crime film that preceded it by three decades - Elia Kazan's Marlon Brando starrer, "On the Waterfront".The ensemble cast does a commendable job, with D'Onofrio, Marquette, Yelchin, and Valverde all coming across as believable. Nana Patekar's pyrophobic Anna Seth of "Parinda" sees a parallel in D'Onofrio's Hench, who has an irrational nervous breakdown on seeing a burning candle in a church. Marquette is convincing in his role as Buddy, a man who is somewhat slow, but impeccable with the gun and his fists, and is easily brainwashed. Yelchin is passable as the violinist who needs to dirty his hands to save his brother. Valverde's Vittoria evokes copious pathos and admiration for the composure and resolve she displays under trying circumstances, regardless of the minimal screen time she gets.On the technical front, Tom Stern's cinematography is par excellence, and is among the stronger points of the film - shots of the Mexican countryside are beautifully captured. A scene that particularly stands out is the one where the extraction of orange juice is interspersed with goons being killed. On the editing front it seems that Todd E. Miller's scissors were a bit too sharp and snappy, which could probably be the biggest reason that "Broken Horses" doesn't retain even a semblance of "Parinda's" excellence. The producers needed to understand or Chopra himself should have convinced the producers that a story of this magnitude needed the runtime of a Bollywood film, if it had any chance of creating an encore of the multi-layered depths and rich character arcs of its source material. The soundtrack does justice to the film, but doesn't stay with you once the curtains come down.In all, "Broken Horses" is nothing but "Parinda" with western actors and without the same impact. While "Parinda" was a brilliant gangster movie and way ahead of its time, this one doesn't impress as much. That isn't saying "Broken Horses" is a bad film; it's more than a decent crime story, and can even be enjoyed to a moderate extent. But the fact that it's an adaptation of what could easily be considered among Indian cinema's 10 finest films ever, and the very same Director - an ace filmmaker no less - who helmed that film comes up short in this adaptation; stirs a level of infuriation and frustration within you, especially for those who loved "Parinda". Watch it if you're keen on seeing what the first Hollywood film written, directed, and produced by an Indian filmmaker is like. Else, just treat yourself by re- watching "Parinda" all over again.

Broken Horses by Vidhu Vinod Chopra disappointed me in many ways. I was waiting for this from almost last 4 months and end up with dull face. This remake of Parinda is lacking in almost all the fields except cinematography. I understand its difficult to make a film for wide range of International audience, even for directors like VVC. This movie have given me a taste of Indian Biryani with English mas-ala. And hence not good for both. Better luck next Time Vidhu. ....and one more thing. Please don't ask James Cameron and other BIG names in Hollywood to say one liner for the movie before they also watch the movie. This may work in India not Internationally.

Stay away from this movie - it is slam dunk boring - from start to finish!! This is a joke out of "PARINDA" movie which was made in India over 25 years ago and obviously Vidoo Vinod Chopra has turned senile in those years that he cannot even think straight anymore.OMG! Is that how a movie should start? ZZzzzz!!! They should watch "CHILDS PLAY" movie to learn how a movie should start!!There are only about half a dozen men and a woman throughout this movie and the camera focuses mainly on 3 people.The whole entire movie is DARK, DARK, BORING, BORING and in some shots you see NOTHING but just a completely DARK screen - all of the movie was shot in the evenings and nights for no reason and even when they show a couple of shots in broad day light for just a few seconds, there is NO light or Sun on actors faces!! Do they call this an art movie cinematography? Maybe the director turned sensitive to Sun light? This is so dumb and annoying. How about learning some techniques before making a movie? Watch Disney, Pixar movies or RANGO or HAPPY ENDING (Saif Ali Khan filmed in the USA with stunning cinematography) - they are all bright, bright.The entire movie is shot in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE in some unknown hills and mountains - no people, no nothing but just these 6 people who still wear suits, ties, boots, cow boy hats, guns, etc - they could even wander NAKED in those hills and NO one would notice them (LOL) - even Wyoming has more people than these locations.They build a ranch with a white stallion horse in the middle of mountains and nowhere which is also shown only in the evenings and nights for no reason - no one wants to live there even if it is given for FREE!!No offense intended but the 4 main characters in this movie are NO MATCH for Nana Patekar, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit in the original PARINDA. These actors in Broken Horses are unknown faces and hence the movie seems like a very low budget one. This movie is not a fit even as a 30-minute TV clip. Even low budget TV serials such as Law and Order have more actors, locations, light and better picturization. Each and every scene in this movie is a joke out of PARINDA.If there was a 0, I would give it 0 stars. If there was -10 stars, I would give it -10 stars. That says it all.Jut save your money!