Safe Return Doubtful

USA / Canada / Australia 2025

Long may the recent lean towards genre-blending in films continue. Following Emilia Pérez comes this hybrid western / musical / fantasy / horror / drama / comedy piece. Even the music is of stark contrast, from the blues the setting of 1930s Jim Crow era Mississippi Delta to the Irish folk of the invaders. Clearly, it requires bottle on the part of the director,  Ryan Coogler, whose previous work is much more mainstream. 

The first third of the film is spent introducing the characters and is of a slower pace of what is to come, which though expected, is more enjoyable because of it.

For me, two scenes stand-out and are quite unforgettable; the vampire Rocky Road segment, and the very last sequence, in a blues bar of a more recent era. The musical segments work better in this than they do in Emilia Pérez, perhaps just due to the madcap hotchpotch that it is. The viewer soon gets to a stage when they not only expect the unexpected, but welcome it warmly.

As time passes, it’s now a day since I’ve seen it, I appreciate it more by the hour. It will certainly be amongst my films of the year. That final scene gives a different perspective on what’s gone before, and almost immediately makes you want to watch it again. 

IMDb rating 8.1 / 10 – My rating 9 / 10