It's the New Mexico Territory in 1871. Jane (Natalie Portman) is hounded by the Bishop boys after her husband Bill "Ham" Hammond (Noah Emmerich) got severely injured by them. She gets help from her former love Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton). She thought that he was killed during the civil war and she married Ham afterwards where they got entangled with the Bishop boys. It's a tale of lost, tragedy, and revenge.
The first half is a muddle of unexplained situations, and confused flashbacks. The story finally gets some exposition in the second half. There is a compelling tragedy but it needs to be told better and earlier. The final act has good cold violence although it sometimes isn't as cold as it needs to be. There is definitely a good potential of a dark, stark western but it's too fuzzy.
First, this may have started with the wrong character. It should follow Dan Frost as he searches for his love Jane. The audience can learn about the situation along with Dan. Also the ending is too happy for the tone of the movie. This is a dark revenge story and I would probably kill off Dan midway through. That way would allow Jane to get her killing on for the last act.
