The western was a major genre of American cinema for many decades, but there is no denying that its popularity is somewhat on the wane this century. When it is successful, it is often via modern-day adaptations of western tropes and archetypes like streaming series Yellowstone. The classic 19th century-set western has become a far rarer beast, largely consigned direct to streaming and home video. The genre still has its ardent fans, but I fear we are progressively getting older and gradually dying out.

As a result, I – as a fairly keen admirer – tend to celebrate what I can get. Particularly good in the past 12 months was Elliot Lester’s The Thicket (reviewed here), and I had a lot of time for Kevin Costner’s wildly ambitious – and wildly unsuccessful – Horizon: An American Saga (reviewed here). The Unholy Trinity, from Australian director Richard Gray, does not reach the quality of those other 2024 releases, but it succeeds in its own more modest fashion. It comes with men in hats, furious shoot-outs, and a quest for revenge in 19th century Montana.

Henry Broadway (Brandon Lessard) is challenged by his father on the day of the latter’s execution: ride out to the Montana town of Trinity to enact revenge on its local sheriff. By the time Henry gets there said sheriff is already dead and buried, and a twisted mess of betrayals, double-crosses, and deceptions lie in his wake.

Most films wind up being a mixture of good and bad aspects. The problem with The Unholy Trinity is that its weakest part is its opening act, and that is going to deter a lot of viewers from sitting through its opening 30 minutes to get to the much more tightly developed final 60. There is precious little context to guide the audience through the opening scenes, and that leads to a poorly developed set-up – and then a lot of patient catching-up as the story unfolds. It is worth persevering, however, especially for fans of the genre. Once the story settles into a more sensible place, it becomes much easier to appreciate the photography and the key performances.

The former, courtesy of cinematographer Thomas Scott Stanton, makes marvellous use of the Montana landscape. It situates these small, intense, human conflicts inside a vast wilderness, like many of the best westerns do, and is as easy on the eye as those early scenes are rough on one’s patience.

Brandon Lessard is a convincing, identifiable lead. He is not a gunslinger or other violent western cliché, and as he is drawn into a broader conflict it is striking seeing the emotional toll each shot he fires takes. He spends much of time in the company of Sheriff Gabriel Dove (Pierce Brosnan), who replaced the sheriff he came to kill. It is a skilled performance by Brosnan, as pretty much all of his recent performances have been. Unshackled from the fame of James Bond in the 1990s and early 2000s, he has really become one of Hollywood’s most interesting male actors. Certainly he looks the part of a rugged ageing lawman, and it is a pleasure seeing him perform the role with his own Irish cadence. Other performances are also strong, including those from Ethan Peck, Gianni Capaldi, and Q’orianka Kilcher.

Samuel L. Jackson makes a key appearance as to so-called Saint Christopher, who weaves his way between the sides of Trinity’s local wars, and who has a personal history with Henry’s late father. It is always enjoyable to see Jackson perform, but his role is clearly not one to challenge him: he broadly plays to type, and as such emerges in a far more stereotypical manner than he needed.

Ultimately The Unholy Trinity resembles nothing more or less than a solid and enjoyable western. It does not innovate or excel, but – aforementioned problems notwithstanding – runs a brisk length and does its job with decent effect and efficiency. They don’t make westerns as often as they used to; sometimes good enough really is good enough.

The Unholy Trinity is screening at Hoyts in Australia from Thursday 26 June, and will be available on digital platforms from 16 July.