Jane Got a Gun

Plot synopsis:
Jane and her husband Bill "Ham" Hammond live in an isolated house with their five-year-old daughter Katie. One day Ham returns home with several serious bullet wounds. As Jane is attending to his injuries, Ham tells her that "the Bishop Boys are coming". This is a gang of vicious criminals, led by John Bishop, that Ham himself used to ride with.
Realizing that she is going to need help in order to defend her home and family from the Bishops, as Ham's injuries have rendered him helpless, Jane takes her daughter to a place of safety, with a woman friend whom she trusts. She then rides to the home of a neighbor, Dan Frost, and asks him if he will help her to protect her property from the Bishop Boys. Dan, a somewhat surly man who lives in a squalid, dirty house, refuses to help. It is obvious from their brief conversation that there is some past history – and bitterness - between Dan and Jane.
Jane rides into town to buy guns and ammunition and hopefully find someone who will help her family. As she is leaving the gun shop, she is waylaid and dragged into an alley by one of the Bishop gang. He threatens her at gunpoint and – despite Jane protesting that she "hasn't seen Hammond in years" – he demands that she take him back to her house, as he is convinced that Ham is there, having recognized the gun Jane is carrying as one belonging to Hammond. However, at this point Dan Frost suddenly appears and tells the thug to leave Jane alone. While the two men are distracted, Jane draws her gun and kills the outlaw.
Leaving the body in the alley, Jane and Dan ride back to her house. Ham is still alive, but very weak. Dan has changed his mind about helping Jane, so they start preparing for the expected attack from the Bishop gang.
Meanwhile, Bishop has already set out with his gang to find Ham. His men spread out over the area to extend their search, and one of them chances upon Jane's house. He recognizes Jane, but Dan kills him before he can raise the alarm.
Dan digs a shallow trench in Jane's front yard, and they fill this with jars containing kerosene, nails and pieces of glass. As they work, we see flashbacks of their previous lives. Jane and Dan were once engaged, but he enlisted in the army to fight in the American Civil War. Captured by the enemy, he was held for years in a prison camp, and when he finally returned home, Jane had left. He travelled from state to state trying to find her, showing her photograph in every town. Eventually, he heard that she had moved west on a wagon train led by John Bishop. Dan talked to Bishop, who told him that during the journey Ham and Jane ran off together. He said he would gladly help Dan to track them down, as he had his own scores to settle with Ham, but Dan refused, saying that he preferred to ride alone.
Dan eventually found Jane, but by then she was married to Ham, and they had had a child. Dan realized that he had lost her forever and was left broken-hearted by the discovery.
Later, Jane tells Dan her side of the story. After Dan left to enlist, she discovered she was pregnant. When Dan did not return, or write, she assumed he was dead. By the time their child, a little girl called Mary, was two or three years old, life in Jane's war-torn town had become so wretched that she decided to take Mary and move West on the Bishop wagon train. Too late, she and the other women on the wagon train realized that Bishop's intention was to start a brothel in another town, and he intended to force the helpless women into prostitution.
A further flashback shows that Ham, having taken a fancy to Jane during the wagon train journey, tells Bishop that he would like to marry her. But Bishop tells Ham that Jane is his "property". Later, Ham finds that Jane and her daughter have gone missing; searching for Mary, he sees a child's boot in the river, and thinks the child has drowned. He goes to the brothel where Jane has been forced to work, and rescues her. Jane is distraught when Ham tells her that Mary is dead.
Back in the present time, the Bishop gang finally arrive at Jane's house, under cover of darkness. Dan and Jane fire into the booby-trapped ditch, igniting the kerosene "bombs". Most of the gang are killed, but some – including Bishop himself – escape. Jane and Dan manage to move the dying Ham into a shallow storage space beneath the floor, to protect him from the gunfire, but the strain is too much for him and he dies. Dan and Jane continue to fight it out with the remaining gang members, although both are wounded. Finally, Bishop (the only gang member left alive) manages to corner Dan and is about to kill him, when Jane sneaks up behind Bishop and draws her gun on him. Trying to persuade her not to kill him, Bishop tells Jane that Mary is not dead, as she had thought. Jane shoots him several times, wounding him badly, until in his agony he reveals that Mary lives at the brothel. Jane then kills Bishop.
Jane and Dan go to the brothel and find their daughter, Mary, who is working as a servant. Jane takes the body of John Bishop to the sheriff and collects a huge reward. Then she, Dan, Mary and Katie ride off together to start a new life as a family.

Tags: revenge, suspenseful, murder, violence, flashback

Review:
She has picked some stinker roles in the past however she proved IMO she is no longer just the pretty face and she has honed her craft to be a very good actor.Blows my mind that IMDb is only giving this movie a rating of 5.9 I am a big fan of westerns and I don't hand out high ratings with a whim or fancy.Good to see Ewan McGregor in a small role.
The premise is somewhat simple initially, that a woman finds that her husband (Natalie Portman and Noah Emmerich respectively) has been shot and though she's tending to her wounds she realizes from him more men are coming after him, so she goes and hires a man (Joel Edgerton) who she used to know...
But the bigger issue is that the movie has just a lot of peaks and valleys as far as compelling scenes; when people do pull guns on one another and there's set-up with that we see (the plan to fortify the outside of Jane's home with liquid explosives and such is clever), it's exciting.What seemed to not work quite so well are the quieter scenes, where confessions are made and that drama has to be tapped as to who did what to who in relationships and the old wounds being scorched.
And it's not so much the actors at fault - Portman and Edgerton are formidable, and McGregor makes a fine figure with that mustache (a bit of a chip off the Val Kilmer in Tombstone block), and one of America's underrated character actors, Noah Emmerich, is terrific even as a lot of his performance is post-shooting in a bed - but with the script.Strange since the screenplay was originally on the "Black-List" (best scripts produced that got submitted, across the world basically), and Edgerton actually did work on the script too (whether this was before the production problems or during I'm sure I don't know).
It's hard to know if it was due to the producers not allowing final cut - a big reason why Ramsey left, which might have been wise - but as a Weinstein Company release it seems a little fishy, like there may have been better material that got left out or moments put together that don't quite fit.And yet for all these odd feelings watching it, overall I would recommend it to fans of Westerns (believe me, I've seen weaker offerings), and the climax is really solid.
I went in barely seeing any of the trailers or TV spots (were there any?) and with barely any expectations, so perhaps that improved my likeness of Jane Got a Gun. The film stars Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, and Ewan McGregor in a production that once had names like Bradley Cooper, Michael Fassbender, and Jude Law attached among others.
No matter, I definitely enjoyed my experience watching Jane Got a Gun.+Portman and Edgerton+Tense finale+Much better than expectations after a troubled production-Still doesn't feel finished-No need for flashbacks7.2/10.
While many have seen or rather predicted the death of the Western "genre" (some might argue it's not a genre itself, just putting this out there), it's still alive and kicking and this movie is testament to that fact.Natalie Portman is a great actress and she saw something in the character here, that made her want to play the role.
Music is by Marcello De Francisci and Lisa Gerrard and cinematography is by Mandy Walker.Jane Hammond (Portman) has to turn to her ex lover, Dan Frost (Edgerton), for help when it's revealed that the notorious Bishop gang are heading her way in search of her husband Bill (Emmerich).It's going to be one of those films more talked about for what it could have been than what it is.
However, it may not be the perfect way to build the principal characters, but they are worth the investment for there's a big emotional pull there.Having laid the foundation for the first two thirds of the pic, we shift to good old honest violence, for siege read backs against the wall, and not without invention, in fact there's much resourcefulness on show, with Jane at times very much leading the way.
Cast are dandy and turning in perfs of note, though it needed more of McGregor's John Bishop, because with what little he gets he does make a villainous mark.It looks terrific, Walker's photography bringing to mind the genre work of Roger Deakins, with the New Mexico locations blistering in their beauty, and while the sound mix for dialogue exchanges is a little poor, the musical score is thumping in its tonal appreciations.
Also, having high caliber actor and actress such as Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman doesn't elevate the movie beyond average frontier drama.Jane (Natalie Portman) is searching for a bouncer to protect her and her wounded husband from a gang of outlaws.
Now, let us consider the very reasonable possibility that Portman, Edgerton, McGregor, Santoro, et al, can bring us an entertaining western in "Jane Got a Gun" (R, 1:38).Portman plays Jane Hammond, a wife and mother living in a small house in Middle-of-nowhere, New Mexico in 1871, six years after the Civil War ended.
As the big confrontation with John Bishop and company draws ever closer, flashbacks progressively tell us more about the past interactions among these four characters – including some well-kept secrets that, once revealed, will change everything."Jane Got a Gun" is a very well-told, very human story.
In 2011 director Gavin O'Connor delivered a very special film in the form of the on face value generic sporting themed family drama Warrior, a film that despite low end box office takings has since gone onto become a well-liked and respected tale featuring memorable turns by its three leads Nick Nolte, Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton.Warrior was a film with heart, relatable characters and a cinematic energy that burst out from the screen, it is in many ways then a completely opposite film to O'Connor's troubled remake Jane Got a Gun, a film completed in 2013 but only emerging this year to little to no fanfare.Taking over the reins at quite literally the last minute from the film's original director Lynne Ramsey (who perhaps realised there was no saving this sinking ship), O'Connor's take on the classic tale of farm girl Jane taking it to the gang out to kill her husband and ruin her life is so devoid of purpose and life that its mightily hard to even envisage what this film was aiming for and from the lacklustre start through to its long gestating yet disappointing fire fight finale, Jane Got a Gun struggles to make any form of impact on the viewer and bares all the hallmarks of a film that's behind the scenes actions impacted badly on its final product.O'Conner has for some time now with films like the aforementioned Warrior and others like Miracle and Pride and Glory has shown himself to be a fine director of both action and actors but Jane Got a Gun fails in both these elements.
O'Connor try's hard to liven the film up with sporadic yet bloodthirsty violence but it's all played out in such a generic nature that it matters little while the films competent cast all fail to make a dent with Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton delivering some downright average performances as Jane and Dan respectively while the seemingly fake tanned Ewan McGregor stumbles his way along as the films big bad John Bishop.Devoid of any spirit, Jane Got a Gun is tiresome and impact free remake.
Watched Jane Got A Gun featuring My Favorite Actress Natalie Portman(Star Wars:Revenge Of The Sith) as Jane Hammond, Joel Edgerton(The Gift) as Dan Frost, Noah Emmerich(Super 8) as Bill "Ham" Hammond, Rodrigo Santoro(The Last Stand) as Fitchum , and Ewan McGregor(The Impossible) as John Bishop,Boyd Holbrook(Run All Night) as Vic , I enjoyed The film despite it being hampered By Delays and Changing of Directors ,while it wasn't 3:10 To Yuma(2007) it was great story also it was story driven, Natalie Portman gave one of her best performances since her Oscar Winning role in Black Swan also Joel Edgertons Dan Frost was compelling character, Ewan McGregor played a Great Villain in John Bishop and Great Music By Lisa Gerrard(Gladiator) & Marcello De Francisci(Balibo) Costume Design by Terry Anderson(Focus) & Catherine George(Snowpiercer) , Cinematography By Mandy Walker(Red Riding Hood) great direction from Gavin O'Connor(Warrior) A Potential Cult Western Film 8/10.
It's seems one more modern western released in near past, but l realize that it has a hidden message with it, misleading think it with an average neo western as suppose to be, Portman put the subject on a slight way, in fact when the west was colonized by americans and built those small cities they needs a large portion of white slaves even mexicans too to ensure a carnal pleasure under so lonely places which l had heard somewhere, a non-linearity of the some many flashbacks confuse a bit the viewers, leaving the movie in a slow pace, the final scenes is hard to gulp, thus stay clear to be an average production with the great cast that won't bothered anyone!!Resume:First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.75.
Jane (played by Natalie Portman) is actually a very interesting character, and her story is slowly (very slowly) revealed in a series of flashbacks.
Dry. Was looking forward do a decent western and sadly very disapointed.it starts of it seemed to me in riddles , you begin wondering how it came to the situation it does,its quite confusing andbi found it very dry.everything in the movie had been done before and it lacked atmosphere.i would actually class it as a barbara cartland novel rather than a western ,the main stars spend to much time looking over the past to make the present film intersting.after about an hour of reminissing we actually get to some action and then it seems the film is all over.also as a person who has shot pistols i find it very annoying when you have a looking down the barrel scene you can clearly see the gun is empty.anyway i cant tell you a lot more because there is nothing to tell ,in fact it was so dull i cant even remember the ending and i only saw it last night.no where near brutal enough for a western ,and an uninteresting story..
To me, this movie makes a significant impression as it is being in our age of fewer western films because it plays realistically like an old authentic cowboy story used to be and supplies good scenery and props too.
While Jane Got a Gun isn't the trainwreck I expected it to be, it's still a snooze of a western that won't do any favors to reigniting a dead genre.The two things that helped keep me from falling asleep are the performances and the production.
Combine this with a sluggish pace, there is almost nothing to invest in.As someone who want's to see more westerns in the mainstream, I really wanted to like Jane Got a Gun and somewhere in it there's a decent film, but it's trapped behind a poor script and weak direction.
The central characters were good ones and both Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton were excellent, as was Ewan McGregor, as the requisite evil gang-leader, who amazingly, I hadn't even recognised until after the movie and I looked at the cast list - what a great job he did!
'JANE GOT A GUN': Three Stars (Out of Five)Natalie Portman's triumphant return to the big screen (or so it first seems), is (the lead) in this western-action flick!
Despite the great cast and crew, the film is pretty disappointing.Portman plays Jane Hammond; an extremely resourceful woman, living in the old west, who's started a new life with her family.
Jane then turns to the only man she can think of, for help; her ex-lover Dan Frost (Edgerton).The first thing I hated, about the movie, is that Natalie Portman is not the tough heroine, advertisements sold her to be.
In the end "Jane got a Gun" was a not so good film, which is quite surprising, hence it's directed by Gavin O'Connor.
I enjoyed all the leads especially Joel Edgerton, Ewan McGregor, and Noah Emmerich and some of the minor characters which are handled beautifully and memorably.All in all I've new respect for Natalie Portman and am sorry I didn't see this film much earlier..
The screenplay is simple, but it offers a good balance of drama and violence; I particularly liked the flashbacks which gradually reveal the cause of the enmity between Edgerton's character and Bill, Jane's husband, solidly played by Noah Emmerich.
It's a very good slow western starring Natalie Portman as Jane, a woman trying to protect her husband from his old outlaw gang who he got into trouble with saving Jane from them.
Making things complicated, she hires a gunslinger who just happens to be her ex-finance who she thought was dead which is why she moved on.It's a good western tale about a complicated relationship between the two main characters with burst of Wild West violence long in-between.I liked the look of the film.
Jane Got a GunNo one has a problem with women owning guns as long as they're disarmed before that time of the month.Mind you, some premenstrual rage might benefit the homesteader in this Western.Frontierswoman Jane Hammond (Natalie Portman) is forced to defend her family farm from outlaws when her bandit husband (Noah Emmerich) riles up the Bishop Boys and their devious leader (Ewan McGregor).But to have a fighting chance against the posse, Jane must enlist her ex-fiancé (Joel Edgerton).
Jane Hammond (Natalie Portman) asks Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton) - her former fiancé - to help save husband Bill (Noah Emmerich) from his former gang who are trying to kill him.
-Jane Got a Gun is a 2016 American action-drama western film directed by Gavin O'Connor and written by Brian Duffield, Joel Edgerton and Anthony Tambakis.
The film stars Natalie Portman as Jane Hammond, a woman who asks her ex-lover, Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton) for help in order to save her outlaw husband, Bill Hammond (Noah Emmerich) from a gang led by John Bishop (Ewan McGregor) out to kill him.
Although the movie is called Jane Got A Gun, it's really Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton) who saves the day, because he is hired by Jane Hammond (Natalie Portman) to save her and her husband, Bill Hammond (Noah Emmerich) from a bunch of bounty hunters who are hunting down Bill, so they can get the reward.
On the plus side, there was some depth to the film, which gave the whole storyline some meaning but apart from that, it just seemed like a mediocre western with an average storyline.Budget: $25million Worldwide Gross: $3millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their action/drama/westerns, starring Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, Ewan McGregor, Noah Emmerich, Rodrigo Santoro, Alex Manette and Boyd Holbrook.
Chilled by his directing debut The Gift,and very impressed with the story he came up for the post-apocalypse film The Rover,I decided to look at co-writer/(along with Brian Duffield & Anthony Tambakis) lead actor Joel Edgerton IMDb credits,where I found out he had recently made a Western with Natalie Portman,which led to me getting ready to see Jane get her gun.The plot:Seeing her husband Bill Hammond return home filled with bullets from the Bishop Boys gang, Jane Hammond realises that they have tracked her down.Putting her child into hiding,Hammond decides to put an end to the gang.As Hammond places the fact that she will have to get her revenge on the Bishop Gang on her own,Jane's "long lost" fiancé Dan Frost rides into town.View on the film:Backed by a thumping score from Marcello De Francisci and Lisa Gerrard,director Gavin O'Connor (who replaced original director Lynne Ramsay,after Ramsay got sacked over not showing up,whilst cinematographer Darius Khondji and stars Michael Fassbender,Jude Law and Bradley Cooper all quit the film!) and cinematographer Mandy Walker grill a choice cut of Western pulp.Entering the salon 3 years after filming,O'Connor and Walker fans the flames of Jane's fight with the Bishop Boys gang by soaking the film in blazing yellow which locks a brittle atmosphere over the film.Despite having to re-write the movie during production,the screenplay by Duffield/Tambakis & Edgerton does very well at setting up an uneasy alliance between Hammond and Frost,as flowing flashbacks reveal Frost's wild west adventures and the horrors that Hammond faces.Hanging in the background,the writers gradually bring the Brishop Boys to the front of the shooting range,as Jane gets her gun.Joined by a grisly cameo from his brother Nash, Joel Edgerton gives a terrific performance as Frost,thanks to Edgerton softening Frost's husky image,as Frost and Hammond draw guns.Looking ultra-stylish in a long leather coat, Natalie Portman gives a great performance as Hammond,thanks to Portman peeling the gravitas of the horrors inflicted upon Hammond across the screen,which is wonderfully crossed with a bad ass grin,as Jane loads up her gun..
And this week another released this year makes its way to DVD, JANE GOT A GUN.Said to be loosely inspired by the 1971 film HANNIE CAULDER (and if it is trust me lose is the main term to consider here) the movie tells the story of Jane Hammond, a woman on the old frontier whose husband Bill (Noah Emmerich) returns home wounded and in need of help, letting her know that John Bishop (Ewan McGregor) and his gang are on their way.
Unable to so much as stand to help or to leave, Jane takes their daughter to a nearby friend and seeks out assistance from Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton).As the movie unfolds we learn the past history of these main characters.
Take for instance when Jane Hammond (Natalie Portman) and her hired gun Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton) take her outlaw husband Bill "Ham" Hammond (Noah Emmerich) down into the cellar when John Bishop's (Ewan McGregor) gang show up hell bent on killing the three of them.