“Brevity is the soul of wit,” observed Shakespeare in “Hamlet,” who of course did not live long enough to discover that his observation has a useful correlative when it comes to action movies.
“Ghost Soldier,” directed by William Eubank from a script by Chris Papasadero, stars Jim Caviezel as Fitz, a rural Wyoming resident whose semi-Brutalist house is slated to be razed by a corporate concern called Brownstone, the better for the behemoth to control water rights nearby.
The Snidely Whiplashes of Brownstone use legal means at first; they buy out one family, albeit at gunpoint. They burn down the barn of another, the very nice Hernandezes. The younger member of this clan has been learning horseback riding and marksmanship from Fitz. He’s great at both, Fitz is, because he is a former Special Forces guy and an ammunition engineer. One of his kickiest inventions is a little device that looks like a highway turtleback and can blow a hole clean through a bad guy’s torso.
Olivia Thirlby — if you don’t remember her from “Juno” and “Snow Angels” in 2007 (which you should), maybe you do from “Oppenheimer” — plays a sheriff who joins forces with Fitz when she realizes the bad guys are too ruthless to be brought down lawfully. In the final third, the organizer of the miscreants, played by Shea Whigham, sends for Serb reinforcements. Scores of snarly guys with beards and shaved heads show up; suddenly the town looks like a Halloween party where everyone decided to dress as the Tate brothers. No matter. “I only need three hours,” to dispense with them, Fitz tells the sheriff. It’s not a spoiler to say he’s as good as his word. This kind of satisfaction that you get watching Fitz knock them down, briskly, is the movie’s raison d’être.
Ghost Soldier Rated PG-13 for lots and lots and lots of violence. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. In theaters.
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