The Guns of Peridido
Genre: Western/Action/Adventure
Director: Michael Bay
Writer: Jacob Jones
Cast: Austin Butler, Joaquin Phoenix, Isabel Merced, Harrison Ford, Paulina Chavez, Corey Stoll
Plot: Out in the sleepy deserts of Oklahoma, a young man rides about on his horse, keeping an eye out for any sign of life. In narration, it’s revealed that this man has just moved out of his father’s ranch, looking to find opportunities out in the open world. His name is Damien (Austin Butler), and sure that might align himself with the devil, but he’d like to think he’s a good man in principal.
Damien’s travels lead him to a quiet, desolate town known as “Peridido”. Despite this, Damien finds that all the buildings are in great shape. He assumes it just became a ghost town, only to hear someone screaming. Several bandits snatch a young woman’s golden watch. Determined to make a stand, Damien calls out to the bandits and pulls out his gun.
Damien chases the bandits all over town, even if some of his bullets whistle through windows. Eventually, one of the bandits pulls out a gun of his own, threatening to shoot himself. When the bandit does, however, Damien ducks out of the way before shooting him straight in the head. His partner in crime flees the scene.
Damien returns to the lady, handing her the golden watch. The woman is grateful, giving Damien a hug when another shot is fired. Damien and the woman take their eyes off each other and look towards the opposite end of Peridido, where a man dressed in all black slowly makes his way towards the scene, calling for Kitty (Isabel Merced). Kitty runs off, thanking Damien for the help. Confused, Damien stares at the enigmatic man.
Damien examines the town, coming across a small, quaint little hut. As Damien examines his new home, however, he feels an ominous presence lurking behind him. He looks behind his back, finding the same man who was wearing all black. Damien readies his gun, ready to shoot…
…only for the man to claim he comes in peace. He’s heard that Damien saved his daughter and wanted to give his thanks, introducing himself as Sanchez (Joaquin Phoenix), the line of defense in this town. Damien clearly unnerved even as Sanchez assures him that he’s trustworthy. This leads to Damien to ask why Peridido feels so deserted.
Sanchez chuckles good-naturedly, Peridido isn’t a ghost town, it’s a bustling city. Around here, Sanchez is the law of the land. Anything that happens is run through by him and if they try to go against him…
“Well, that ain’t important now, is it?”
Sanchez tips his hat, preparing to head off, before stepping towards Damien:
“Stay in your lane and nothin’ bad’ll happen to ya.”
That evening, Damien tries to sleep, only for what Sanchez told him to ring through his ears, bringing him into a nightmarish landscape where Damien tries to outrun a whip, while an ominous voice tells him to watch his back.
The next day, a sleepy Damien wanders about Peridido, stumbling inside a saloon called the “The Bellcow”, a hustling, bustling place filled to the brim with life. Immediately, Damien is greeted by a group of cowboys, all clamoring for his word, only for a young woman to step forward, wondering what all the fuss is about.
Upon capturing her first glance at Damien, she takes him to the stools, introducing herself as Helia (Paulina Chavez), Seeing how tense Damien is, Helia orders two root beers, her treat. Once the two start drinking, Helia asks Damien what he’s doing out here in Peridido.
Damien explains that he’s trying to find himself a new home after what happened in Kansas, but last night, he met a man named Sanchez and—
In a flash, the jovial atmosphere crawls to a halt as Helia prepares to explain the truth about Sanchez, only for the doors to open. Helia pulls out a gun, preparing to shoot…
…only to find that it’s the woman Damien saw yesterday. Helia urges him to keep hush, explaining that this is the daughter of Sanchez. She’s expected to inherit the town once he retires.
“You mean Kitty?” Damien asks, revealing that he got her watch back yesterday. Kitty looks around the bar, the dirty glares apparent. Helia steps aside, not wanting any form of trouble. Damien has no idea what’s going on, but Kitty’s aware.
The two have a spirited conversation about each other, ending with Damien now fully awake and in high spirits as Kitty laughs at his jokes. Damien and Kitty thank one another for keeping company, feeling a sense of camaraderie…
…a sense that is ruined when a gun shot rings through the Bellcow, creating a hole in the saloon door. Damien readies his gun, preparing for whoever steps in, only to find an unassuming man in a dress shirt and pants motioning for her to go. Kitty sighs, telling Damien that she has to go, thanking him for the time. The man looks back at Damien, giving him a small nod.
During the horse ride home, the man asks Kitty if Sanchez knows. She rolls her eyes, he’ll know when he burns in hell. Once the two arrive at Sanchez’s ranch, Kitty is immediately smothered by her father before he regains his composure, thanking Buster (Corey Stoll) for bringing her home.
After checking to make sure Kitty is alright, Sanchez takes her to his office, where all of the most important decisions are made. Someday, this will be Kitty’s realm and as such, she will be making these calls, all for the cause of keeping Peridido strong and safe.
“So was leading a genocide against several Native tribes a strong and safe decision?” Kitty asks.
Sanchez takes pause for a moment, reminded of his lowest point before taking in a sigh. He admits that there are things he isn’t proud of, with the treatment of the Natives being on top of that list, but ultimately, Sanchez sees it as “means to an end”.
Sanchez shifts the focus to Kitty’s whereabouts. Seeing a chance to mess with her father, Kitty asks about Damien. Sanchez takes a step back, having seen Damien around these parts. If he is to have the honor of dating his daughter, perhaps he needs to pay him a visit, gently shooing Kitty off.
That evening, Damien finds his horse and Buster engaged in a scrap, Damien comes to his horse’s aid, pinning Buster toward the wall, asking what he wants. Terrified, Buster points toward the note by the door, inviting Damien to the center of Peridido at high noon, telling him to bring his best.
Damien shows up in the middle of Peridido at high noon, gun in his hands as he calls out Sanchez. Suddenly, Damien hears Helia’s voice warning him to watch out, a gunshot going off. Damien dodges in the nick of time, finding Sanchez. He hopes he hasn’t scared Damien, he’s just heard of Damien’s arrangement with Kitty. Despite Damien’s objections, Sanchez is willing, as long as he proves himself.
Damien stares into Sanchez’s eyes, freezing as his mind turns the town leader into an eldritch monster. Seeing him struggle, Helia shouts that he accepts, forcing Damien’s hand. Per Sanchez’s request, Damien is given the first shot, one easily dodged by Sanchez, the bullet ricocheting off a window. At that point, Damien sprints away from Sanchez.
Out in the searing heat, the two play a game of cat and mouse as Damien hides in several buildings, including a small shop selling odds and ends. Every time Sanchez enters, Damien fires a few warning shots, all of them wildly missing, even hitting a few items on the shelves.
As Damien departs the scene, he crashes into Kitty. He tries to explain the situation, only for Sanchez to approach him. As Damien tells Kitty to go, he tries to fire one more warning shot. This time, however, Sanchez is ready for hit, aiming for the knee.
Damien collapses onto the ground, writhing in pain as Kitty watches in horror. Damien clicks his gun, only to find that he’s out of bullets. Sanchez declares victory, stepping up to Damien before taking his gun. He apologizes, but ultimately, this is the price he must pay for playing games.
As Sanchez leaves, Kitty calls for help, making sure Damien is okay, even as he fades…
The next day, Damien sits inside a hospital, being tended to for his wounds when he hears Kitty’s voice. Relieved that Damien is alive, Kitty apologizes profusely for what happened, only for Damien to stop her. He doesn’t need the apologies. He does, however, think that he needs to get out of here.
Damien hears another voice chime in, that of Helia, apologizing for getting him involved when he wasn’t ready yet. Damien reveals that it’s not that, it’s Sanchez himself. When he was younger, he worked on his father’s ranch. Damien’s father thought of himself as a master tactician, running a good farm. In truth, he ran by fear, cracking the whip when he misbehaved. Sanchez reminds him far too much of his father. Helia and Kitty express their remorse, the latter storming out of the hospital soon after. Helia stays inside, inviting Damien to her house once he gets better.
Out by his ranch, Sanchez watches as Buster adds several new bullets to Damien’s gun when Kitty slams the door open, demanding Sanchez tell her what he did to Damien. Taken aback at first, Sanchez explains that he merely wanted to test Damien’s worthiness. When Kitty relays to him that the bullet went in his knee and that he’s thinking of leaving Perdido, Sanchez thinks for a moment before admitting some gallows humor.
“Well, it’s not an eye for an eye, but a knee for your heart works just as well.”
It’s at that point Kitty gets in Sanchez’s face, asking why he thinks this is a laughing matter. Sanchez explains that he does so to cope with the choices he makes. Choices to keep Peridido safe. Choices that come with consequences, especially if someone goes against his word.
Kitty steps up to Buster, snatching Damien’s gun and aiming it towards the underling. If Sanchez truly believes his way is just, he’ll stand down and save Buster’s life. For too long, he’s made Peridido walk on eggshells, and if hearing this from his daughter isn’t enough…
Conflicted, Sanchez asserts that he loves her, only to lunge after to gun, causing Kitty to shoot Buster in the head, killing him in an instant. Sanchez chases after Kitty, a daughter clearly a step ahead of him as she sprints down the stairs and runs out the door.
The next day, a healed Damien arrives at Helia’s house out in the farthest reaches of Peridido. Upon entering, Helia takes Damien inside her laboratory, where she revels in her many inventions. Here, she hands Damien a new gun, tailor-made for him.
Impressed, Damien notices a unique contraption by the wall, asking about that. Helia declares it to be her greatest invention yet, the waterhorse, a mechanical horse that runs solely on water. Curious, Damien tries it out, only for the waterhorse to run out of fuel quickly. Helia isn’t surprised.
Seeing that Damien is confused, Helia introduces him to a piece of paper that’s been stuck on the door for a few years now. This paper is a formal decree by Sanchez himself that she is not to be treated as a civilian, but as a stranger. This means her freedoms are massively curtailed, including a mandatory 8:00 curfew, the inability to engage in combat, and the rationing of bare necessities, such as water.
In flashback, it is revealed that Helia was the first to really stand up to Sanchez, seeing how oppressive his rule had become. She tried to stage a rebellion, only to be gunned down and held captive by Sanchez for a number of days before the ruling. To this day, she thinks he’s trying to kill her the long way.
Upon telling this story, Helia grows woozy, having not had a drink since the saloon visit. Damien rushes over to the canteen, giving Helia a quick drink before asking what they can do. Helia knows of one person who could help, but no one’s seen him since he lost power. Feeling a new sense of determination, Damien suggests they pay them a visit.
Meanwhile, in the outer regions of Peridido, a young man is cornered by three bandits who claim that Sanchez needs him to pay his toll. The man begs for mercy, promising to pay him when he can land on his feet. The bandits pick up their guns, preparing to shoot, only for the tallest one to be shot in the back. The two remaining bandits turn to find a masked, androgynous person staring back at them with a pistol.
From there, a chase is on as the mysterious figure climbs up buildings and leaps onto roofs. When she sees the bandits have cornered her. She dives on top of them, landing several perfect shots to their heads, killing them in an instant. Once on the ground, she pulls out a mark, brandishing their faces with two words: “Rebel Alone” before taking off into the night.
In the warmth of the sun, Damien and Helia do their best to find this mysterious former leader, but the blistering heat proves too much for Helia and she passes out. In a panic, Damien checks on his canteen, finding that he’s run out of water. He gets down on his knees, tears streaming down his face…
“Now what’s all this crying about?”
An old man stands in view of Damien and Helia, gruff and stoic at the same time. Damien explains his plight to the man who immediately hops onto Damien’s horse, carrying Helia and telling the young cowboy to follow him.
Several minutes later, Damien arrives at a small ranch in the middle of nowhere, stepping inside the old man’s hut, watching as he gives Helia a drink. The man explains that they were lucky. Any later, and she’d have been a goner. The two head out toward the ranch, Damien watching as the old man stares into the distance.
Damien gingerly steps toward the man, asking if he could have a word. The man doesn’t speak, allowing Damien to stand by him. The two briefly chat about life before Damien brings up Peridido and his plight with Sanchez. The old man shudders at that thought, before asking Damien if he knows the stories. Damien…does not.
“Well, then it’s time you knew the legend of Toughstuff Tony.” (Harrison Ford)
Again told through flashbacks, Tony reveals himself to be a tough cookie who can work his way around a gun. Under his reign, Tony was a steadfast commander who was stern but also fair, keeping Peridido safe and free. As the years went on, however, Tony grew old and stubborn, struggling to keep up with the next generation of gunsmiths. It all came to a head during the great Apache war when, fed up with the mass number of casualties and seeing how Tony refused to stand down, Sanchez, his second-in-command, challenged Tony to a duel where, if he lost, he’d have to relinquish his role as sheriff. Sure enough, Tony was destroyed.
It proved to be for the better early on as Sanchez led his men to victory in said war, but as time passed, Tony would see Peridido be overtaken by a cult of personality and fear. Tony laments this fact, as Sanchez had such strong values, but wound up corrupting himself with absolute power. Most of all, however, Tony blames himself for letting it grow to this point.
Horrified, Damien expresses sympathy for the old man who merely tells him not to bring pity. He brought it on himself, revealing himself as Tony. Damien reveals that he has fought Sanchez before and believes all that Tony has said. Sanchez is a scary prospect in more ways than one. Damien asks Tony if he would consider teaching him how to fight back. Tony is reluctant at first, but upon seeing his want to prove himself accepts the offer.
That evening, Damien learns under Tony’s watch, missing and hitting targets all the while. It is there Tony teaches Damien the importance of discipline and technique, as the more accurate shots hit the hardest. Damien follows Tony’s words to great effect. As the days pass, the lessons continue until finally, Tony deems him ready for Sanchez. Damien thanks Tony for his help, vowing that he’ll do him proud. With Helia having long since been hydrated, the three go their separate ways, Damien wondering if anything has changed since the duel…
Back in Peridido, Sanchez hurriedly makes his way across town, carrying flyers and desperately asking the residents if they’ve seen Kitty. It’s not until he comes across Damien that he sees an opening. Damien is reluctant to trust Sanchez again, knowing what happened. Desperate, Sanchez makes a deal. If Damien can find “Rebel Alone” by sunset, there will be a rematch in three days time.
Damien accepts the deal, going in search of the Rebel Alone, always being one or two steps behind. As the sun sets, Damien sees three thugs circling a defenseless figure. The figure does everything in their power to fight back, even bloodying a nose, but the numbers game is too much and Rebel injures their knee. When one brute pulls out a knife, Damien sprints into action, shooting at the monsters as they flee the scene.
Damien checks on the figure, recognizing the black mask and wild rag. He’s found Rebel Alone. They shush Damien, however, pleading him not to tell anyone, taking off the mask to reveal Kitty. Damien helps Kitty up, taking her to his house.
After getting settled, Kitty explains that she’s been trying to be Peridido’s hero, declaring that Damien inspired her, it’s there Kitty makes a confession. Ever since Damien first got her watch back she’s been developing feelings for him. She doesn’t know what it is, but thinks it has something to do with his nature. Damien isn’t sure, all he knows is that he wants to keep the people of Peridido safe, but maybe that’s enough…
Damien and Kitty lean in for a kiss only for the door to swing open, revealing the three bandits from earlier, now restocked and ready for revenge. Damien and Kitty scatter all over the house, shooting at the thugs all the while. The shootout eventually catches Sanchez’s attention from afar, and he rushes to the scene of the crime. There, he finds Damien and Kitty fighting off the thugs. Feeling a sense of rage, Sanchez charges inside the house, gun in tow, shooting all the thugs behind their backs, killing them in an instant.
Sanchez soon turns his anger towards Damien, throwing him toward the wall. He thought they had a deal, but now he sees that he’s gone behind his back. Damien tries to explain, but Sanchez refuses to listen. He didn’t practice his due diligence and showed to him why he’s no hero. Now, he’s got to get even, and to him? It means doing what he should’ve done a long time ago. Damien closes his eyes, his life flashing before him…
When the bullet sounds however, Damien opens his eyes and finds, in horror, that Kitty took the bullet for her. Shocked, Sanchez flees the scene, leaving Damien to survey the damage. A tearful Damien begs Kitty to say something, anything. Wounded, yet in peace, Kitty tells Damien that it’s all up to him before dying on the floor.
Sanchez returns to his house, heartbroken. He walks across the living room, coming across several pictures of him and Kitty over the years, watching her grow into a woman of her own. In tears, Sanchez breaks into a violent rage, trashing the living room and later his office, ranting and raving about how it was all Damien’s fault before solemnly declaring that he’s going to kill him for Kitty’s sake.
All Damien can do the following day is lie on his bed when he hears a knock on the door. It’s Helia. Damien is an emotional wreck, weeping about how he couldn’t protect Kitty. Helia assures him that it’s not true. If anything, Kitty dies to save Damien. In fact, their impact make have been far greater than they ever imagined.
Helia takes Damien across town where he finds men and women coming together, protecting those who cannot defend themselves. When the townsfolk see Damien, they form a mob, each person idolizing the man who they now think represents Rebel Alone, to a point where they demand a speech.
Despite being unprepared, Damien gives a passionate speech for the future of Peridido, a kinder, gentler town where each person has a chance to do what is right. It is soon recorded by telegram that Damien wants something out of tomorrow’s rematch. If Damien wins, Sanchez leaves Peridido, never to return. If Sanchez wins, then he’ll leave.
The next day, the entire town gathers at the center for Damien and Sanchez’s rematch. Damien keeps his eyes out, no sight of Sanchez in sight. When Sanchez arrives, he stares Damien down, but notices that Damien no longer has the look of fear in his eye. In fact, this time, he hit the first shot, nearly clocking Sanchez in the eye.
Out in the sun, Damien and Sanchez again chase each other through the town, this time not engaged in a game of cat and mouse, but in full blown warfare, both hitting great shots but also dodging everything given to them. The fight eventually crashes inside the saloon, where bullets once again ravage the place until finally, Sanchez has Damien by a table, placing the gun by his mouth…
…only for Damien to fire first, aiming for the leg.
Sanchez stumbles back, just barely missing the bullet, Damien sprints out of the saloon, checking his fun, finding that he’s down to one bullet. Before he can do anything else, he is clocked in the back with a piercing shot to the legs.
Damien collapses onto the ground, Sanchez towering over him. Sanchez asks the crowd if this is their hero. Is this really the person they wish to trust when he has kept this safe for so long? A silence falls among the crowd until finally, Helia sounds off, trying to get under his skin.
Eventually, Damien comes to his senses, asking Sanchez his own questions regarding Helia and Tony, before asking the most important question of all. Who was it that got Kitty killed? Damien tells Sanchez that he still thinks he’s a hero, then he will gladly sacrifice his life and let him continue leading Peridido. Sanchez, now conflicted stares down Damien, aiming for his head…
…only to drop to his knees and lower his head in shame. Damien is right. He’s been living a lie ever since he defeated Tony. With that, Sanchez concedes the battle to Damien, handing him his gun back and resigning from his post as sheriff.
Sanchez walks up to Damien, helping him up before giving him one last word. Do better than I ever could. Damien nods, watching as Sanchez takes his final walk out of Peridido. Not only has Damien won, he’s shown Sanchez the error of his ways.
Several weeks later:
The town of Peridido appears brighter and chippier than it once did, patrons talking with one another, stopping by the newly repainted and refortified saloon and in general, being good citizens to one another, when a young boy is being menaced by three bandits.
All of a sudden, a gun shot is fired, and the bandits cast their sights on the sheriff of Peridido, on a shiny new waterhorse, the first of its kind. Once known as Damien Gunn, he has a new name paying homage to his fallen love, “Rebel Son”.
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