NEVER GROW OLD no stars

This dark Western, although set deep in the heart of the Old West, was actually filmed in Connemara by the Irish director Ivan Kavanagh and the rain-soaked Irish terrain is perfectly suited to "Never Grow Old"'s theme of violence and revenge. Emile Hirsch, whose Irish accent keeps slipping, is badly cast as the weak-willed undertaker whose business picks up after creepy John Cusack arrives in the town of Garlow with his gang and begins terrorising the community.

It strives for the same kind of grim realism that distinguished the revisionist Westerns of the seventies but falls far short and at times it looks and feels more like a horror film and there are so many night shots it is often impossible to tell what's actually happening. Kavanagh may know his movies but this is just a pale imitation of Altman's masterpiece "McCabe and Mrs Miller". He could also do with upping the pace. Ultimately, it's watchable but also very unpleasant.