The Thicket

Westerns are often focused on heroes and villains, but The Thicket is best when it explores outsiders in the margins of those traditional archetypes.

This bleak and brutal period thriller adapted from a novel by Joe Lansdale (Bubba Ho-Tep) is downbeat and deliberately paced, bolstered by striking visuals and character-driven intrigue to offset its genre cliches and stereotypes.

It’s set during an unforgiving winter on the American frontier, where rampant corruption and moral bankruptcy fuel widespread distrust and economic desperation.

The story opens with the kidnapping of a young outlaw (Esme Creed-Miles) during a confrontation with a ruthless gang leader named Cut Throat Bill (Juliette Lewis). Along with her weathered face and androgynous features, she’s burdened by a range of physical and emotional scars.

That leads the victim’s brother (Levon Hawke) to hire bounty hunter Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage), a gunslinger whose toughness and cunning outsizes his stature as a little person.

As Jones and Bill converge for the first time inside an empty village tavern, their animosity is laced with sarcasm. “You’re the littlest man I’ve ever seen,” she observes. His retort? “You’re the ugliest.”

Both sides assemble their respective posses as the body count accumulates along the trail to an inevitably bloody final showdown.

As directed by Elliott Lester (Aftermath), the evocative depiction of harsh wintry landscapes captures a sense of desolation and despair, where every day brings a new fight for survival amid brazen anarchy and random savagery.

Taking advantage of her most substantial film role in recent memory, Lewis is menacing as an impulsive gangster with a deep rasp and a penchant for violence that masks a vulnerability suggesting past trauma in a world of pervasive misogyny and oppression.

Meanwhile, Dinklage provides an emotional anchor as the only somewhat virtuous presence, even tossing off a few one-liners to lighten the mood. Among those popping up in smaller roles are Arliss Howard and Macon Blair, plus Metallica frontman James Hetfield.

Even when it lacks sufficient emotional depth or thematic complexity, The Thicket gains traction when it remains focused on its two fascinating adversaries, who have more in common than either would like to admit.

Rated R, 105 minutes.