With a title like "Aces 'N' Eights", you know it's only a matter of time before the obligatory reference is made to Wild Bill Hickok's dead man's hand. That was provided by villain turned good guy D.C. Cracker (Bruce Boxleitner) later on in the story, but you know, it's funny because there was nothing even remotely related to playing cards or gambling that had anything to do with the picture. Take another movie with the same title, 1936's "Aces and Eights" starring Tim McCoy; in that one McCoy's character is a card sharp and all around tough guy who's wanted posters tell prospective gamblers to just stay away from him. He could tear a pack of playing cards into quarters he was so tough!
Now Westerns are my favorite movie genre, so don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way. There's only so many times you can tell the greedy land grab story before it gets to be redundant. That's one of the main reasons Westerns eventually fell out of favor with the public, which is why it takes something like Eastwood's "Unforgiven" to encourage the genre's revival. The story here is another one of those formula pictures repackaged and made over the top violent to appeal to Western movie junkies like myself, but after just so many (I've reviewed well over six hundred on IMDb before losing track) it seems more like going through the motions.
Even with all that said I thought this was an OK film. Casper Van Dien made for a staunchly rugged hero opposite Jeff Kober's sadistic Tate character. I started to get a little distracted when Jack Noseworthy showed up looking just a little too much like a young Val Kilmer. Then later on when Monty (Rodney Scott) made his way back to Oak Hill, I got distracted even more when the bruises on his faces kept changing shape and position. But then it's all balanced out by Ernest Borgnine at ninety one years of age! riding horses and throwing down with his shotgun making me wish once again he could have made it to a hundred.
Now Westerns are my favorite movie genre, so don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way. There's only so many times you can tell the greedy land grab story before it gets to be redundant. That's one of the main reasons Westerns eventually fell out of favor with the public, which is why it takes something like Eastwood's "Unforgiven" to encourage the genre's revival. The story here is another one of those formula pictures repackaged and made over the top violent to appeal to Western movie junkies like myself, but after just so many (I've reviewed well over six hundred on IMDb before losing track) it seems more like going through the motions.
Even with all that said I thought this was an OK film. Casper Van Dien made for a staunchly rugged hero opposite Jeff Kober's sadistic Tate character. I started to get a little distracted when Jack Noseworthy showed up looking just a little too much like a young Val Kilmer. Then later on when Monty (Rodney Scott) made his way back to Oak Hill, I got distracted even more when the bruises on his faces kept changing shape and position. But then it's all balanced out by Ernest Borgnine at ninety one years of age! riding horses and throwing down with his shotgun making me wish once again he could have made it to a hundred.