John Maclean's directorial/screenwriting debut, Slow West, showcases that the Western is alive and well. The American frontier is as still just as much of grand stage as it has ever been and Maclean makes the most out of it in his debut. For those who're familiar with the Western genre Slow West won't be pulling that many surprises. The tired & true message of "The West is Hell" is strongly present here, though Maclean sharpens his focus on one central concept of that ideology; survival. The mentality of "Killed or be Killed" can be found embedded in basically all Westerns. In Slow West, Maclean uses it as meditation to understand what is life truly worth living for. Maclean gets this across quite strongly and brings it home nicely. The simple conversation/interactions shared between Fassbender & McPhee establish this and the ending brings it all together in one grand conclusion. As far as acting goes I must say McPhee leaves the strongest impression. ...