You know what go together like peanut butter and chocolate?  Australia and violence!  In that spirit, I chose to watch The Horseman (NOT to be confused with 2009’s The Horsemen, which I disliked — 2 stars!) last night on Netflix.

If you have a strong tolerance for violence and blood, and if you enjoy vigilante justice, and if you like Australian accents, then this is the movie for you.  I rated it 3 stars on Netflix.  If it was possible to give it 3.5, I would have done that.  Perhaps I should explain my rating system to you:

• 5 stars – Excellent movie that I would like to own and watch again multiple times.
• 4 stars – Very good movie, one that I would watch again, but has some flaw(s) preventing me from bestowing my highest rating.
• 3 stars – A good movie that I have no regrets about watching, but would probably not choose to watch again.
• 2 stars – A movie I regretted watching, in that my time could have been better spent, but it did have some redeeming features.
• 1 star – A movie I regretted watching which had few if any redeeming qualities.

The Horseman was good for what it was — a revenge movie.  It was well done, I liked the acting, and it held my attention.  That said, it was pretty much just a revenge movie.  They tried to add in some moral complexity and shades of grey (is everyone equally culpable?), but it felt like a token effort — like they realized their movie was a somewhat generic revenge movie, barring some creative torture techniques.  It was a movie that I definitely don’t need to own, but if someone were asking me for a good revenge movie, I’d wholeheartedly recommend it.  It was better than a lot of movies to which I give 3 stars, but definitely fell short of 4.

This is the second Australian movie I’ve watched recently.  The other was Black Water:

Oddly enough, this was another 3-4 star movie.  Perhaps slightly better than The Horseman.  I forget if I gave it 3 or 4 stars — sometimes I’ll give a movie 4 stars just so that Netflix will suggest to me more movies like it, even if the movie didn’t quite earn the rating.  I know, I know, where are my ethics?  Anyway, if you like man vs animal movies, this one is well done.  Note, however, if you are watching it expecting the two attractive female leads (or anyone else, for that matter) to undress, you will be disappointed!  The same is pretty much true for The Horseman as well, which is a bit more surprising since most of the movie centers around a pornographic film and its creators.

Last year I watched a ton of Spanish movies, perhaps now I’m on an Australian kick.  We shall see!