Brothers In Arms is a decent attempt at a modern western with a twist.<br /><br />The film does stay quite loyal to the original concept of the western. The surroundings and atmosphere are generally authentic in appearance and the majority of the story doesn't try to steer off into other directions that are inconsequential to the period in time. In other words, no one rides a motorbike and ninjas have no involvement.<br /><br />David Carradine plays Driscoll – a tyrant that has a stranglehold on a dreary western town. He owns everything including the law enforcement. He is a man above the law and fear is his favoured weapon of choice.<br /><br />When a group of robbers come to town with the view of making the bank their next hit, they inadvertently kill Driscoll's son. This slightly scuppers the groups' plans and they must proceed carefully as Driscoll has vowed revenge for the killing of his son.<br /><br />The film may have faults but unlike some movies it doesn't try to over-complicate the story to hide them. The acting is average. The film wasn't made with an Academy Award in mind so I don't think one can be too overly critical.<br /><br />The music throughout the movie is fair with an intended mix of traditional western with some hip-hop style beats mixed in. It's not too overpowering for the theme but it may be irritating for the more sophisticated western viewer. <br /><br />Unfortunately we reach what I believe are the real negatives. <br /><br />The direction of the film is very poor. The film starts heavily with the flashy flashy camera style, jumping from scene to scene really quickly. The trend continues but thankfully for my eyesight it dies out slightly. <br /><br />It does remind me a lot of Michael Oblowitz's work. <br /><br />Some films can pull it all together with amazing action sequences - this does not.<br /><br />This is the factor that annoys me greatest of all. In a western movie one expects a shootout, not just a shootout, at the very least, a good shootout. This is one western movie that does not deliver it in any form. It was like watching grown ups dressed as cowboys run around with toy guns shouting, "bang bang".<br /><br />Director La Marre simply has no idea where to put the camera in the shootouts. In the close one on one confrontation there is no suspense and it's never clear who gets shot - In fact, sometimes its just noise. It is a very weak and shoddy attempt.<br /><br />I'm glad to see a revival of sorts with modern westerns and I find it very difficult to criticise Brothers In Arms too much because with a tweak here and there (granted, one of the tweaks being someone that can shoot action) this really could have been a great film. It must be stated the estimated budget for the film was $1.5m and based on that figure it's a reasonable movie.<br /><br />I certainly think it's worth a watch for some creative inspiration.