Movie Review Rewind: Meek’s Cutoff (2010)

Brandon Vick flips the calendar back to 2010 for a look at Michelle Williams in Meek's Cutoff in this edition of Movie Review Rewind!

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Meek’s Cutoff is the live action version of the old computer game “Oregon Trail.” The only difference is the computer game is less tedious and more entertaining. This film has some real quality performances, but this film drags more than almost any I have ever seen before. Director Kelly Reichardt certainly gets the beauty of the landscapes along with the harsh conditions the emigrants must endure, but by the end of the film you are left frustrated and exhausted.

Set in 1845, Michelle Williams leads an ensemble cast of three families who are on a journey during the earliest days of the Oregon Trail. They have hired Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood), a “skilled” tour guide and a man of nature, to lead them to a shortcut through the Cascade Mountains. But once they start down an unmarked path, Meek begins to lose his way in the dry desert and the families begin to lose hope in their leader and start to question his survival instincts.

As each day passes, supplies begin to run out and the families are running low on food and are in desperate need of water. And when they take hostage of a Native American wanderer, the emigrants soon begin to rely on him to show them the way instead of Meek. However, the Native Americans have always been seen as the enemy in their eyes and are scared of what he might do. Yet Meek has been unreliable and the families are left wondering who they can trust because their survival depends on it.

Meek’s Cutoff wants to bring you an experience of what it was like back then and the problems and obstacles these families had to face day-in and day-out. Reichardt wants the film to feel as authentic as possible and she succeeds without a doubt. But for the most part, we are just left watching everyone drag along the desert with their wagons slowly falling apart. Some films are slow-paced but are still able to keep the audience interested and engaged. This film does neither. Even when the character of the Native American comes in to the picture, things never reach a new level of excitement or suspense. He just becomes someone else they may or may not can trust and one more person we get to watch walk around in the heat. 

There are certainly a few things to appreciate in Meek’s Cutoff. Reichardt puts a lot of focus on the lives and chores these characters must do in order to survive. Everything they do is for a reason because their lives depend on it. The look of the film is terrific and there are some good performances to be noticed, specifically the talents of Williams and Greenwood. But the film is too slow and the longer it goes, the more interest that is lost. And once the credits roll, whatever ending you were hoping for, you will not get. Instead, you will be asking yourself why in the hell did I sit through all of this for that. Meek’s Cutoff is a journey I wouldn’t want to ever take or watch again.

Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.

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