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5.6/10
Archivist John
Senior Editor
A definitive 5.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. A Final Reckoning remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
So, is A Final Reckoning worth digging up today? Look, if you're not already into early adventure films, especially the silent kind, then probably not. This one's for the folks who get a kick out of seeing how these stories were told way back when, or maybe just really love the idea of a treasure hunt in dusty Australia. Everyone else will probably just find it a bit slow, honestly.
The whole setup with the brother and sister, Jay Wilsey and Louise Lorraine, trying to find their dad's gold mine... it takes its sweet time getting going. You feel the weight of their grief, sure, but then it just kinda drifts into the 'let's go find it' part without much urgency. There's a lot of riding horses, a surprising amount of just... walking through what's clearly a backlot dressed up as the Outback. You almost expect a kangaroo to hop by, but no, just more dust.
Wilsey, as the brother, he's got that earnest, square-jawed thing going on. Very typical for the era. But sometimes, when he's supposed to be worried, his brow just furrows so intensely it almost looks like he's trying to remember if he left the stove on. It’s not bad acting, just... very *present* acting.
Lorraine, though, she brings a little more spark. There's a scene where she's arguing with one of the shadier characters – Frank Clark, I think – and her expressions just snap. It's less 'silent film acting' and more 'actual frustration.' A welcome jolt in the middle of a lot of careful emoting.
The villains, they're exactly what you'd expect. Scowling, twirling mustaches, real obvious bad guys. One shot, I remember, of Edmund Cobb just leaning against a tree, watching them from a distance, and the way the light catches his hat brim... it's a nice little touch. Makes him feel a bit more menacing than his later, more direct confrontations. He just stands there, a silhouette, and it works better than any of his later sneers.
But then you get a chase scene that feels like it was shot on a Tuesday morning with half the crew still asleep. The edits there are just... abrupt. Like they ran out of film and just stitched whatever they had together. It jumps from one angle to another without much sense of geography, and you lose any real sense of danger because it's hard to tell where anyone is in relation to anyone else.
The intertitles are pretty standard. A lot of 'They must find the gold!' or 'Beware the treacherous villain!' Nothing too poetic. But there's one that just says 'A long journey lay ahead.' And then it cuts to them already halfway there, riding through a different landscape. It felt a little like a shrug from the filmmakers. 'Yeah, we know, just get on with it.'
There's a weird moment where they're almost caught, it's supposed to be tense, but then a random dog wanders into the frame and just stares at the camera for a solid five seconds before someone shoos it away. It completely broke any suspense. You can't help but chuckle. Maybe that was the point? Probably not. It just felt like a happy accident. This film has a few of those moments that pull you out of it, but sometimes in a charming way.
The chemistry between Wilsey and Lorraine is... functional. They act like siblings, which is to say, they mostly tolerate each other and occasionally share a worried glance. You don't get a huge sense of deep bond, but they're on the same team. That's enough for a gold hunt, I suppose.
The 'reckoning' itself, it's pretty quick. You spend all this time building up to it, and then it's over in a flash. Not unsatisfying, but not exactly epic either. It's less a grand finale and more like everyone just decided to call it a day. Good enough for what it is, I guess. It’s certainly not going to change your life, but for a glimpse into early adventure cinema, there are worse ways to spend an hour.
IMDb 6.5
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