‘Buffalo Boys’ is a Wild Shotgun Blast of Exciting Action and Overly Familiar Story Beats [Fantasia Film Festival]
Posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2018 by Matt Donato
Mike Wiluan’s Buffalo Boys is a pulpy, Wild West-inspired revenge thriller by way of Javanese commemoration. As a directorial debut, it’s enjoyable enough when quad-barrel shotguns blast crooked gentrifiers through saloon windows. As a complete “legends are born” horseback – er, buffaloback – adventure, glossy surface-value filmmaking charts plottable highs and lows without much introspection worth digging into. It’s a knee-high wade into familiar waters, but explosive action sequences are Wiluan’s continued saving grace. Two brothers on a quest to avenge their father, a dusty road paved with Dutch indiscretions over historic Indonesian provinces. Worth the bullets-and-hatchets fireworks nonetheless.
