Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Sometimes I think I must have an organic brain issue: To me, films like South of Heaven are the gold standard of film westerns; it elevates the genre to a perfectly tuned noir, where style and mythos entwine like the gunpowder that the hero burns and huffs to keep himself grounded. The film's bizarrely low IMDb User rating makes me wonder if I need help, or what.I found the flick to be a wonder, from bottom (production) to top (mythos). The writing is absolute gold, the direction is fine-tuned, the acting beyond professional. And all the foregoing feels of-a-piece.The product teases you along its wispy thin tendrils of character development and dusky-framed scenario snapshots, and succeeds where so many films fail; at creating a truly immersive cinematic experience that transcends its pretense of genre (western) to create a compelling shadow play of morality, honor, and all else besides.Don't side with the rabble: Give it a shot.

It plays like a TV Western miniseries: slow, deliberate, lots of characters. But the script is a mess. The inciting incident doesn't occur until twenty minutes into the film. The protagonist disappears in major segments. Characters are miserable, poorly defined, loud-mouthed, and annoyingly angry. There's a lack of plot flow that makes the film hard to follow. For example, characters in early scenes disappear to be replaced by new characters that then disappear. Some plot elements seem unrelated to the underlying story. The entire plot is chaotic and disorganized.The film attempts to tell the story of Val Casey (Dwight Yoakam), lawman in a desolate town called Los Tragos, Arizona Territory; the year is 1907. But something happens and Val morphs into a different occupation; I'm not sure what. We meet a variety of people in this film, most of them unlikable. There's lots of gunfire and violence.As bad as the script is, the visuals are fine. All that dust, the dim indoor lighting at night, wooden exteriors, and the vast expanse of empty land combine to make for a visually pleasing, and realistic experience. And the sound of the wind adds to the tone of forlorn desolation.Threadbare costumes and interior decor seem realistic for the period. But I didn't like the highly repetitious score.At over two hours in duration, "South Of Heaven, West Of Hell" is something of a chore to get through, aside from the interesting visuals. It's as if we are watching a downsized Western epic. Dwight, stick to songwriting and singing. That's where your talents lie.

SOUTH OF HEAVEN directed by Dwight Yoakam has the look of a classic western color motion picture. The cinematography by James Glennon must have inspired Glennon's later work on the HBO series DEADWOOD for which Glennon received an Emmy. The production design, the art direction, the wardrobe, the locations all worked as one piece with the cinematography to give the film a great cinematic look - the vision of the director is there in every detail. The performance of Bridget Fonda is a stand out among a cast of what must be Dwight Yoakam's friends that includes Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark, Scott Wilson, Paul Reubens, Vince Vaughn, Peter Fonda, Michael Jeter, Joe Unger, Otto Felix, Warren Zevon, and Billy Bob Thornton.

I am very surprised at the negative comments about this film, which I found hugely entertaining and likable in a black way. Surely it is provocative and rambling but with cameos upon odd-ball cameos spotted in a leisurely paced gun-toting cruel western, I give full marks to Dwight Yoakam in pulling it off. He wouldn't have attracted those names if they didn't like the mostly dark, witty and surprising screenplay. Billy Bob Thornton has priceless lines and delivery. The director uses unlikely outcomes of various scenes but so do most directors (otherwise films would be a lot shorter with the evil, heartless and sadistic co-stars bringing the heroes to premature ends) and the romantic side is just as incredible as the guns and violence. It's the best western set film since Dead Man by Jarmusch (with Johnny Depp and a similarly impressive host of stars).