Renegade (2004)

Jan Kounen's Blueberry is a gorgeously shot metaphysical mind trip that will undoubtedly lose those looking for a conventional Western, but will find a home with fans who find joy in confused flicks that delight in their whacked-out madness. It makes sense that the director changed the course of the film midway through production after diving headfirst into shamanism, since it's about halfway through where the flick takes a belly flop into a psychedelic drug fest filled with CGI insects and mystic mumbo-jumbo that puts Oliver Stone's The Doors to shame. That said, the flick is expertly filmed and done in such a cinematic way that it's hard to knock the entire package. The performances are exceptional as well, filled with familiar faces that lend the production immediate class and make for a casting agent's dream. It's too bad, then, that it all falls apart by the anti-climactic ending that delivers on a gonzo level but falls desperately short of the kind of satisfactory wrap-up that one would expect going into it. By the time Vincent Cassel and a very naked Juliette Lewis go for a sensationalistic swim at the end, you're left wondering just what the point was. Recommended for fans of wild peyote trips and avant-garde Westerns -- both of which are probably sadly lacking these days. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide