Nicolas Cage’s New Western Is A Gloriously Violent Abomination

By Robert Scucci
| Published 12 seconds ago

Nicolas Cage is a fascinating creature because he’s prolific to a fault, seemingly taking on any role offered to him. Always up for a challenge, we’ve seen him go fully gonzo in films like 2018’s Mandy and completely insane in 1989’s Vampires Kiss. Cage’s range and rage is palpable, and I’ve vowed to devote my spare time to studying him because his chops are one-of-a-kind. The problem with Cage’s willingness to go all in is that sometimes we have to slog through some truly awful entries like Gunslingers, which came out earlier this year and currently sits with a five percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Violent for violence’s sake, and with production value that makes what’s supposed to be a serious Western play like one of those interactive historical attractions where the staff refuses to break character, Gunslingers is an absolute punisher. Having seen every straight-to-video Nicolas Cage entry in real time as they were released through Redbox, I still had high hopes because he has an innate ability to elevate lackluster screenplays with his charisma alone. In this case, however, I have no idea what he was thinking, because even our one True God couldn’t save the day here.

A Total Shoot ‘Em Up

As the title suggests, Gunslingers begins with all guns blazing. There’s an assassination plot that goes terribly wrong, and our protagonist Thomas Keller (Stephen Dorff) flees New York for Redemption, Kentucky to lay low after killing a Rockefeller. We’re quickly introduced to Val (Heather Graham), a woman with a troubled past who arrives in town with her daughter, Grace (Ava Monroe Tadross). Trouble follows Thomas wherever he goes, and it doesn’t take long for his brother Robert (Jeremy Kent Jackson) to show up primed for revenge after having his face burned during the opening scuffle.

Nicolas Cage’s Ben, a sage-like, reformed gunslinger turned Bible thumper, is added as comic relief, but I’m not exactly sure what he’s going for here. He speaks with a voice that can only be described as a cross between an asthmatic Dom DeLuise and a chain-smoking preacher whisper-fighting through a sermon. As the entire community of Redemption gets blasted to bits by bounty hunters chasing Thomas on Robert’s orders, spiritual leader Jericho (Costas Mandylor) tries to maintain some semblance of peace.

Gunslingers becomes an all-out melee between Robert and his goons and Thomas, who’s trying to turn over a new leaf. Luckily for him, the citizens of Redemption take their community name literally and won’t go down without a fight.

An All Over The Place Experience

Gunslingers is one of those movies that shouldn’t exist, but you can’t help but watch anyway. As an avid Nicolas Cage fan, I wanted to see what kind of hijinks he got into after belting out critical hits like 2024’s The Surfer and 2023’s Dream Scenario. While I respect Cage’s commitment to the bit in Gunslingers, I’m still not sure what he was aiming for with Ben. Nothing he does makes sense until the third act, but getting to the third act requires sheer force of will.

The set pieces and gunplay are a ramshackle affair, and the bodycount is well into the double digits without serving much purpose. The entire production plays like people in 2025 cosplaying as early 20th century outlaws, which is exactly what’s happening. You can’t be taken out of movies like Gunslingers because there’s nothing pulling you in to begin with. I saw the whole thing through because I pride myself on watching TV professionally, but I wouldn’t blame you for giving this one a pass. Or, at the very least, if you’ve got a Nicolas Cage spreadsheet that needs another box checked, you can toggle Netflix’s speed to 1.5x and blast through it in 70 minutes.

Gunslingers is streaming on Netflix.