In "The Wasteland," two messages are clearly visible. The first is that any war crime will sooner or later be punished; the second is that children will not inherit the sins of their fathers. There may be more messages, but who will understand the American soul? The exact time of action is not specified. It seems that this is the period of the Reconstruction of the South, when the United States, having defeated the Confederates, tried to restore order in the southern states, where there were full of those for whom not only the gallows sobbed, but the bell rang long ago.
Mathias Breecher (Kevin McLee), a Pinkerton agency detective, has not seen a soft bed in a year and a half. That's because he has an important mission, and in his pocket three greasy papers - arrest warrants. Confederate Army General Cobrin Dandridge (Tracy Edkins) and two captains, Reginald Cook (Bruce Dern) and Huxley Wainwright (Jeff Fayy), are found war criminals and sentenced to hang. Breecher's job is to find all three and arrest them, and if they don't surrender, follow up on the execution. Each of these gentlemen has combat experience and a difficult character, which means a good deed will not end. However, Matias is not easy - he is also a war veteran, only he fought on the other side of the barricades than his current clients.
On children and their sinful fathers: Mira Sorvino plays Sarah, the daughter of Captain Cook, and she is the epitome of a new generation that does not know the horrors of war. Quite a kind lady who runs a family rundown ranch. The flesh and blood of a man who was not only brutal on the battlefields. Sarah knows about her father’s past, but she loves him as he is and cannot help loving him. Maybe that’s why the romantic storyline leads Mathias through the Cook House to connect the two irreconcilable parties, at least through the next generation, because they are not directly connected.
“Wastes” are in no hurry, the narrative is leisurely, but also decently flavored with inseparable shootouts for the Western. The video series is pleasant to the eye, the landscapes are beautiful, the characters are convincing in their images. But if everything is in order with the picture, then with dialogue, in my opinion, the trouble is: here are the uppermost truths disguised as spatial and philosophical reasoning, and the pathos that have become exhausted. That's minus three points. Another minus point for predictability: there are all inherent in the film about the Wild West components - from the evil sheriff-dictator to the constant duel on revolvers to the battle of the local bell tower. In the rest, the director Justin Lee created a rather strong middle peasant among his brothers, under which you can pass the evening.
6 out of 10