Summary
- Viggo Mortensen’s latest film,
The Dead Don’t Hurt
, is a realistic period Western that adds a modern flair to the genre. - The film showcases Mortensen’s talent as both an actor and director, with positive critiques highlighting his success in this role.
-
The Dead Don’t Hurt
aligns with the current Western movie resurgence, respecting traditional codes while infusing a fresh, genuine storytelling perspective.
Viggo Mortensen, best known for playing Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings franchise, just released a Western he directed and starred in, The Dead Don’t Hurt. It is only the second film directed by the world-famous actor, but it has already garnered positive critiques for being a surprisingly realistic period Western.
As The Lord of the Rings franchise continues to find success, with a new film on the way in the form of The Hunt for Gollum, along with Prime Video’s divisive The Rings of Power series, there is no better time to watch a fan favorite actor tackle the Western genre.
Viggo Mortensen Is a Talented Actor and Director
Viggo Mortensen has been curating a successful career as an actor and director over the past four decades. His first-ever film role was actually in the iconic Woody Allen film The Purple Rose of Cairo, but his scenes were unfortunately deleted. In the 1980s, he also acted in a play about homosexuals in a Nazi concentration camp starring Sir Ian McKellen. The pair eventually joined forces again in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, where McKellen, of course, plays Gandalf the Grey, and Mortensen acts as Aragorn. For Mortensen, this was the beginning of worldwide acclaimed stardom, and the eyes of fans all over the world have been all over his career since then.
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Viggo Mortensen may forever be known as Aragorn, but the New York City native has built a decades-long career that’s pretty impressive.
Performing in a wide array of genres, from thrillers such as Eastern Promises to dramedies like Captain Fantastic, Mortensen eventually moved to directing, with his debut drama Falling in 2020, where he additionally plays a gay man going back to his bigoted father as his mind is declining. The success of this piece led him to direct and star in The Dead Don’t Hurt, another critical success for the actor.
The Dead Don’t Hurt Is a Story of Love and Resilience
The Dead Don’t Hurt is divided into two parts. The viewer is first introduced to characters from a variety of backgrounds, highlighting the diversity of America at its birth. French-Canadian Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps) falls for Danish immigrant Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen). However, fiercely attached to her independence, she refuses to marry him. When it comes time for her lover to go to war, the distraught Vivienne must fight against corrupt mayor Alfred Jeffries (Garret Dillahunt) and his remorseless alcoholic son Weston (Solly McLeod).
After serving for the Union in the Civil War, Olsen returns from the battlefront hardened, and he finds his former ingénue just as tough, raising five-year-old Vincent, the product of a violent rape by Weston. Of course, Olsen’s first thought is to murder the one responsible for his lover’s suffering, but Jeffries Jr. has long been chased out of town. The remaining pair has to learn to get used to one another again, as each has lived more than a lifetime’s worth in just a few years.
Is The Dead Don’t Hurt a Leading Act in the Current Western Revival?
The Dead Don’t Hurt stays in definitive alignment with the current resurgence of Western movies. After The Power of the Dog, God’s Country, or the chilling Bone Tomahawk, this film is a new addition to a growing list of genre-breaking Western films since the mid 2010s. However, what it does differently is that it approaches the genre with complete respect for its codes while adding the extra genuine and realistic flair of modern storytelling to it.
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Viggo Mortensen and Vicky Krieps on Their Romantic New Western The Dead Don’t Hurt
Viggo Mortensen writes, directs, and scores The Dead Don’t Hurt, starring opposite Vicky Krieps as lovers in the Wild West.
Over are the times for magnificent cowboys and irredeemable villains. The characters of The Dead Don’t Hurt are written in shades of gray, none of them perfect or evil. Crucial time is spent admiring nature, appreciating silence in conversations, and building suspense —masterfully, without a dull moment for the viewer. The film successfully dives into the reality of the West around the Civil War without forgetting the resilience of women in this killed-or-be-killed environment. Whether a fan of Westerns or not, The Dead Don’t Hurt is an absolute must-watch for all lovers of both genre and genre-breaking films. The Dead Don’t Hurt is available for pre-order on Amazon.
