SEARCHERS 2.0 (2007)

I knew nothing about this until I saw it listed on the BBC iplayer. Immeadiatly I was intrigued by the credts - a coproduction between the BBC and Roger Corman, produced by John Davison and written and directed by Alex Cox. I like Cox a lot, I like his enthusiasm, I like the way he talks about other peoples movies and I admire the way he weaves his way through the film industry determindly setting up intriguingly offbeat subjects. Unfortunately I never seem to like the films themselves. Good in parts but often over indulgent, meandering in the extreme and often a bit silly. SEARCHER 2.0 is his most likeable film for some time - indeed I wanted to like it more than I actually did. Two ageing Western film extras decide to travel to Monument Valley to revenge themselves of a sadistic screenwriter who had abused them as child performers in one of his films. With the help of one of the men's cynical daughter they set off for Arizona. Some of the script is amusing as the men argue about their favourite Westerns, revenge movies and the Iraq War ("It's our gas - it just happens to be under their desert!"). It should work better than it actually does, the two leads are not very strong in the acting department and it never really takes fire. But, having said that it is hard not to be sympathetic towards the project and if you like road movies and Westerns you should give it a try. Rating ***