Roman Coleman, the career-defining role that journeyman Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone, The Drop) has been waiting for, does not disappoint. Finally, the 42-year-old actor you’ve seen in the background here and there and everywhere gets his opportunity to truly lead a movie. As the hardened felon-turned-horse trainer proves, anything can happen to anyone, given the right circumstances. The Mustang is a brilliantly directed movie by first-time director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre. Roman seems to desire to serve his time quickly and with as little human interaction as possible. He is nearly unrecognizable with his shaved head, as well as chiseled, tattooed body. But his problem with the latter leads to a longer than expected stay, and his explosive anger to go with that machine of a body suggests that he might not be going anywhere anytime soon.

Halfway through a ten-year sentence for a domestic assault case, Roman struggles with anger management. He hasn’t served his time at this rural Nevada prison as the model prisoner either. We meet him when after a lengthy stay in solitary confinement. We learn that he has avoided the optional anger management sessions offered at the prison that, perhaps, should have been mandated. Fully disclosing that he’s “not good with people,” the understanding but stern prison therapist (Connie Britton – NBC’s Friday Night Lights, ABC’s Nashville) tries to find a job for him in which he can have minimal human contact but still fulfill his part in the state-mandated social rehabilitation, the therapist assigns him in the outdoor maintenance program, where he moves manure from one location to the other on the prison campus.

So, what does this have to do with wild horses? Because if he’s moving poop, we have a pretty dull movie and wouldn’t suggest the career-defining performance that I alluded to in my first paragraph. We learn in the opening credits that there are approximately 100,000 mustangs in the wild across 10 American states, and the government can only support less than a third of them. The rest are sometimes adopted, sometimes kept from sight in various long-term facilities, or given to prison inmates to train and then sell at auctions through rehabilitation programs. These various facilities are in about half a dozen states on the country’s west coast. And, of course, one of those states is Nevada, and one of those prisons is where Roman receives his rehabilitation.

Having a natural affinity towards the horses that is unbeknownst to him at the time, Roman gets an opportunity to show if he has what it takes to get into the selective wild horse training section of the program after he is identified by the, take no bullsh** veteran trainer Myles (Bruce Dern – Nebraska, Coming Home). Myles can spot those he thinks can succeed in his program and is willing to give them one shot. If they screw it up, they are done. His program is popular enough that he never has to worry about recruits. He has to worry about their ability to successfully integrate with the other members of his team as well as the mustangs. The program pairs inmates with the wildest horses, ones that have lived in the wild their entire lives. The successful inmate receives one mustang and training before being sent for auction. A good horse tends to go for a little over $1000, and we learn that, among their other vocations, some of the horses are used by law enforcement to protect our borders in the south. Roman gives his mustang the name Marcus. Roman learns the basics from affable Henry (Jason Mitchell – Straight Outta Compton, Detroit), the self-proclaimed best trainer in the yard. Roman understands his humanity better through the program in trying to tame an especially difficult mustang.

But make no bones about it; this is an R-rated prison movie. R-rated themes are happening here outside of the tenderness of the horse training. There is racial tension. There are turf wars. There is violence. There is drug use. There is drug abuse. There is profanity. There are violent attacks, escape attempts, and family visits that don’t always go smoothly. The one we are most concerned with concerns Roman trying to make amends with his pregnant 17-year-old daughter Martha (Gideon Adlon –Skin In the Game), her request for emancipation to follow her boyfriend to Atlanta, and a father’s attempts (sometimes half-hearted) and reconciliation. Their scenes aren’t the most fluid in the movie, mainly because Adlon isn’t overly skilled at her craft. She is not in the same league as Schoenaerts, and it shows. At best, de Clermont-Tonnerre should have reshot each scene with her. At worst, she should have replaced her altogether.

The Mustang isn’t so much a redemption story. Sure, Roman is a different man at the beginning of the film than he was at the end, and his participation in the horse training section of the prison’s outdoor maintenance program has something to do with it. But Roman isn’t a bad guy. Even before getting to know his character, he appeared a likable inmate, even when his first few scenes don’t give us reason to. He has anger management issues. That part is clear. And it resulted in the most horrific acts imaginable, even if the outcome of what happened wasn’t at all intended. Roman is remorseful about what he has done but understands he has a debt to pay to society. What he didn’t understand was the debt he owed to his daughter. For as congenial he was as an inmate, he was that much more of an a**hole as a father. And while what happens between Roman and Martha is relatively formulaic, the sequencing of the events and how we might expect them to go isn’t. Unfortunately, the father/daughter relationship wasn’t the film’s highlight, partly because of Adlon and partly because of the script.

Dern is excellent as the no-nonsense Myles. But the role is what you would expect. It’s not to take anything away from his performance. It’s just what you would expect. He is outdone by Mitchell as well as Dan (Josh Stewart – The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar), a newly arrived inmate and bunkmate of Roman who will do anything to secure drugs, including exerting his influence to harm family members of fellow inmates as well as strike retribution to those who don’t do exactly what he asks them to do. But these were all side characters to Schoenaerts’s Roman, a man haunted by his past but unwilling to do anything about it except to serve his time until he meets Myles and learns of his love for and innate skill with training horses. It is fantastic to see an actor who has paid his dues as a side part finally get the keys to the car to see what they can do with it. And that’s precisely what Schoenaerts does in The Mustang, an extremely original movie that is not to be missed.

Plot 9/10
Character Development 8/10
Character Chemistry 8/10
Acting 8.5/10
Screenplay 8.5/10
Directing 8.5/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 7.5/10
Hook and Reel 9/10
Universal Relevance 10/10 (who knew?)
87%

B

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