The Nicolas Cage renaissance is still going strong, with the iconic actor bringing his self-described "nouveau shamanism" performance style to the unlikeliest corners of Hollywood. After 2021's tender drama Pig, Cage played himself opposite Pedro Pascal in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. More recently, he appeared as a version of Superman in DC's The Flash. But Cage's boldest new direction—his first-ever Western movie—is an underrated banger that quietly slipped onto streaming. Now on Hulu, The Old Way is a must-see for Cage fanatics, with a wonderful cast of familiar favorites to boot. (Art Mullen from Justified, anyone?)
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Cage stars as weary retired gunslinger Colton Briggs in The Old Way, a Western drama with equal parts violence and heart. The film centers on Colton and his teenage daughter Brooke (played by Firestarter's Ryan Kiera Armstrong), whose quiet new life as frontier shopkeepers comes crashing down when the son of a man Colton murdered years ago comes to town seeking revenge.
"At the heart of this story is a family drama," Cage explained to Collider in Jan. 2023. "My favorite genre is family drama. Yes, it's framed in the location and the period and the clothing of the traditional Western, but at the heart of it, it's a story of a father and a daughter who are both social misfits, who are both trying to act like they belong in society."
Directed by action-horror veteran Brett Donowho (Acts of Violence), The Old Way offers classic gunslinger fare—a grizzled cowboy who must face the music—with sumptuous visuals. The film shot on-location in Montana to achieve those iconic Western vistas and sun-drenched shootouts. And at a tight 1 hour 35 minutes, Nic Cage's first-ever Western in his decades-spanning career won't eat up your entire Saturday night.
The Old Way also stars Justified favorite Nick Searcy as a fearsome town marshal. Other cast members include the legendary Star Trek and Andy Griffith Show alum Clint Howard (Ron Howard's brother), Dean Armstrong (Chapelwaite), Noah Le Gros (1883) and Jeff Medley (Blood for Dust).
The Old Way is now streaming on Hulu.
