Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Jane Got a Gun’

Written by Scott Edwards 

Trust can be a difficult thing when all is said and done. Needing to be able to trust your parents, your friends or significant other is the only way to maintain a relationship, but it cannot come without a cost. Even when you think that you are right and these people do not agree with you, you have to trust that they have not only their own, but your best interests in mind. Your relationships must be built on solid ground so you know where the other person is standing, if it is not, you can find that your relationships and trust are on a slippery slope.

As Jane is getting ready to settle down with her fiancé Dan, she finds out that he will be leaving to fight in the war. Thinking it will only last a couple months, Dan returns home years later to see that Jane has moved on with her life and has moved out west with the Bishop party. While Jane believes that this is the right move, especially after not hearing from Dan for a couple of years, she finds that things out west are not what she was promised. Being forced to work as a prostitute to make ends meet, Jane’s new suitor Bill has to deliver the worst news possible to his love, that her daughter has been killed and they have no reason to stay with the group any longer.

Moving out on their own, Jane and Bill have made a nice out of the way life with each other, including having another child that will never be in harm’s way. But John Bishop is looking for his former employees and will do anything to bring them back and make them pay for betraying him. When Bill returns home with five gunshot wounds, Jane is forced to help mend her broken husband and knows that things are only going to get worse with John Bishop hot on their trail. Needing help since her husband is out of commission, Jane sets out to find the only other gunfighter that she knows, but has no idea what his answer will be since she plans to ask him for help.

Seeing Dan for the first time in years, Jane begs her former fiancé to help her and her husband absolve the situation before it gets out of hand. Declining at first, Dan comes around to see how the two are set up and decides that he will be her savior. Not ever taking a liking to Jane’s husband Bill, John makes it known to both of them that the reward offered on Bill’s head may be more than enough payment for his trouble, but Dan knows that Jane’s love is the real prize and will do what he can to prove how much he still loves her. With time to get ready for the pending attack, Dan and Jane start talking about how their lives have changed over the years and Jane finds out that she was never abandoned by him as the war went on longer than expected and he was held up in prison camp for most of it. But time is not on their side when John Bishop and his gang show up at the front door outnumbering the couple six to one.

A tale of past love that could have been told in any time, but it is a western movie so the outlaws get a better shot at completing their task at hand. Even though you can guess the outcome before you see it, the foreshadowing was not too bad. One of the things that I am still having a hard time with are flashbacks telling a story, and this movie had plenty of them, but besides that, I did enjoy the movie. Dan showed great development as he had to overcome his love for Jane and hatred for her husband to do the right thing in helping them. John Bishop however really stole the show and when I found out who played him, I was blown away that this actor transformed into John Bishop, hiding any clues as to the actor's real identity. This is an all right western but a strong love story that men that have lost their loves to time would surely understand.

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