The basic plot is lifted straight from the old western films: a somewhat dysfunctional protagonist rides into a desert town, and immediately runs afoul of the local bullies. Our hero (Van Damme) takes on the bullies, brings hope to the honest townspeople, woos the women, etc. There is a good deal of gratuitous violence and sex, as we have come to expect of a Van Damme film.
While watching "Coyote Moon," I got a distinct sense that neither the star nor the director put their full effort into the film. Plot development was thin, the villains were one-dimensional, and no effort was made to justify either the violence or sex. If one is either a die-hard Van Damme fan or is expecting some serious cinematography, "Coyote Moon" is bound to disappoint.
Having said this, I enjoyed "Coyote Moon" a great deal, and this is why. The secondary characters, the townspeople who usually serve simply as a backdrop, were here given a great deal of scope and humor. They were acted well, they had better lines than did the main character, and they were delightfully bizarre. In this surreal context, Van Damme's detached attitude towards the film actually played rather well. These aspects of "Coyote Moon" were so different from what I had expected that they were a pleasure to watch, and the rest became tolerable.
While watching "Coyote Moon," I got a distinct sense that neither the star nor the director put their full effort into the film. Plot development was thin, the villains were one-dimensional, and no effort was made to justify either the violence or sex. If one is either a die-hard Van Damme fan or is expecting some serious cinematography, "Coyote Moon" is bound to disappoint.
Having said this, I enjoyed "Coyote Moon" a great deal, and this is why. The secondary characters, the townspeople who usually serve simply as a backdrop, were here given a great deal of scope and humor. They were acted well, they had better lines than did the main character, and they were delightfully bizarre. In this surreal context, Van Damme's detached attitude towards the film actually played rather well. These aspects of "Coyote Moon" were so different from what I had expected that they were a pleasure to watch, and the rest became tolerable.